Zannen desu ne
by pretense
Summary: AU. Title translation:I can't help it/It's such a pity. KanmuriAzuma. Rules are everywhere, but for every rule... there is always an exception. HIATUS
1. Rule 1

**A/N:** First of all let me elaborate a few things… The Character ages are as follows: Freshmen (16), Sophomores (17), Juniors (18) and Seniors (19); based on my research that indicated as such:

Kindergarten is usually for 5-6 year olds. Then, it goes up from there.  
Elementary/Grade School (first to fifth grade) 6-12 year olds.  
Junior High/Middle School (sixth to eight grade) 12-16 year olds.

High School (ninth to twelfth grade) 16-19 year olds.

I would also like to inform everyone that the characters involved would be in the age of their Year Level irregardless of what age they actually are in the anime from which they came from… Hence, for example, Yuuri Shibuya, despite being sixteen in the Kyou Kara Maou anime, will be of age eighteen in this fic since he would be a Junior… I mean come on, the school can't exist with the students all being seniors, it would be simply unrealistic…

Next, in this parallel universe, the rule, which I prefer to label as the 'Loveless Rule', applies. Based on the manga/anime Loveless, where everyone is born with cat ears and tail (most usually of the same color as their hair) and the said parts are only lost when one had already undergone sexual intercourse.

So far, that's all the I can think of, if anyone wants to ask something please feel free to do so…

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

**Zannen desu ne**

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

The time was 5:30 a.m., the sky was still of a murky blue color adorned with thousands of stars as well as a single crescent moon. There were hardly any person on the street and still, a fewer number of people was awake… whilst some were just awakening from their sleep…

A digital alarm clock was constantly and obstreperously ringing in hopes of awakening its owner who was still in deep slumber despite the fact that the aforementioned device was just on top of his bedside table… Eventually, the sound of the alarm reached the teen's ears and pleasantly disturbing his peaceful sleep, mumbling something about five more minutes, the boy blindly reached for the alarm clock, pressing a button that set the device on snooze.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

_Meanwhile…_

Another teen twisted and turned in his bed sheets, covering his ears with a pillow in an effort to block out the noise coming from his alarm clock. Finally, after a few minutes of his efforts put into vain, a mop of unruly pink hair emerged from the navy blue sheets at the same time that a pale hand grabbed the still ringing alarm clock threw it unceremoniously at the floor. The poor device broke upon impact on the carpeted floor, its screws, bolts and whatnot scattering about. However, it didn't seem to have any effect on the one who caused it… in fact, the teen even grumbled words that sounded much like: 'It's still to early dammit!'. Nonetheless, the pink-haired teen decided that since he was already awake, he might as well get on with it… Rubbing his eyes, and letting out a yawn, Kanmuri Shigeru slowly made his way towards his bathroom…

About thirty minutes later, Shigeru came out of his walk-in closet just beside the bathroom. He looked at himself in the full-body mirror just outside the door that he exited. A pale teen with amethyst orbs looked back at him, donning a full-sleeved white polo jacket with an unbuttoned deep blue blazer on top, which had golden linings along its collars. A red necktie hung untied around his neck and finally black slacks and leather shoes adorned his lower extremities… Shigeru sighed as he ran both his hands through his still damp hair, messing it up a bit… Deep purple orbs gazed at his reflection from beneath his bangs… Looking as normal as always, except… His hands paused on either side of his head, his eyebrows knitting… Yes, of course… How could he ever forget that? No cat ears… His gaze lowered… And no cat tail either… Shigeru finally let go of himself and simply placed his hands in his pant pockets… Taking one last look at himself at the mirror, the teen couldn't help but wonder… How many of them would judge him now?

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

Rays of sunlight shone upon the magnificent structure… Truly, it was a work of art… The sun's warmth radiating over the building's pristine pale blue and white tone, effectively showing off its luxury and elegance… Truth be told, the building… or rather, group of buildings looked more like a mansion than anything else. And yet, a mansion wouldn't be the proper name for it… For it was a school, one of the best ones there is… And so before the classes start, allow me to give a short tour of the place…

Before you came to the building's themselves, you'd have to pass through wide silver gates and from the gates, there is still a long way to go before you'd reach the building's main entrance doors… The school's front lawn, as it may be called, has a brick road leading towards the buildings themselves starting from the gates. Along the road, trees of different varieties stands tall and proud, bushes of white roses serves as the boundary from the bricks and the trees. Long park benches are placed with equal spacing on each side of the brick road, serving as waiting places for the students during the early hours of the morning, and still the same in the late afternoon…

Inside the buildings are well-furnished, air-conditioned and spacious rooms, each suited for the type of service that it would give to the students. There are four school buildings, each for a year level. The North Building (which is the one that you'd immediately come to upon entering) is for the Freshmen (First Year). The East Building on the other hand is for the Sophomores (Second Year), with the West Building for the Juniors (Third Year) and the South Building for the Seniors (Fourth Year). Each building has three floors with an approximate of ten classrooms on each level… Although, for the West and East Building, there is an additional fourth floor which serves as the Gymnasium (on the West) and an auditorium (on the East) for all year levels… Each building has an infirmary and a music hall, meanwhile the school's two libraries can be found at the North and South Buildings with the one at the North serving for the freshmen and sophomores and the other on the South for the juniors and seniors. All four buildings enclose a wide quadrangle, which is often the ground for school events… Although it is quite worthy to note that there is also a swimming pool behind the school, along with a large courtyard/garden and a soccer field.

At the moment, hundreds and hundreds of students littered around the campus… Girls and boys of all shapes and sizes passing through the wide open silver gates, welcoming the start of another school year… Even on the first day, you could already see the different groups that the students have…

The tight packed groups of students standing near the gate, looking rather nervously all around them were the Freshmen. You could easily tell from their anxious looks, and wide-set eyes as they seeped in the view of their new school…

Farther to the left are a group of girls, each had her cell phone out and were proudly showing off their designer bags, shoes, hair clips, make-ups and everything else that you could think of… All of them were talking at the same time that you'd have to wonder if they really understood what the other was saying.

Opposite the group of girls sat a bigger group of boys, some of them held basketballs, soccer balls, tennis rackets, and one of them even had a wooden sword. Naturally, the talk was all about sports, catching up on who won the latest championships, the MVPs, the worst players and of course, there was the usual 'which sport is best' quarrel…

Further along the brick path, you would see girls and boys, most of them with thick rimmed eyeglasses, crowding around park benches as the resident know-it-alls gave loud speeches on the recent developments/discoveries in the fields of science, math, and the like. There was also the random otakus, game geeks, and as such scattered all about… their fellow supporters hanging about them wherever they go…

And such, many more students came, it would be pretty much tiring if all were to be described since each one is unique, one thing that they all had in common, though is that all of them still had their cat ears and tails… But of course, the school was private, thus, it is only fitting for the school board to be wary of the students that they accept… But then again, every rule has an exception…

The school bell rang thrice, numerous heads popped upon the realization that the school was about to formally start… Gathering their belongings, the students immediately made their way towards their respective classrooms… Sitting quietly as they waited for their homeroom teacher to arrive… Well, maybe not so quietly with the occasional 'Oi! Long time no see!' calls, but… you get the picture…

Yes that was life… School life in particular… at the prestigious school known as Ouran Academy…

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

_As the students rushed to their classrooms…_

A sleek black limousine then stopped directly in front of the gates of the Academy, carrying inside it three people, including the chauffer. In the back seat of the limo sat two men…

"Kanmuri-kun, welcome to your new school…" the older of the two announced, lowering the black-tinted windows for his companion to see the structure outside.

"Tsutsumi I don't see the point in transferring me to a new school when I'm already about to graduate…" the younger one replied, crossing his arms, amethyst orbs peeking beneath his pink bangs.

"But, Kanmuri-"

"Look, I don't need protection… If that's your reason for transferring me, I tell you it's all been worthless…"

"… Well, anyway, I'd better go with you…"

"I can handle things by myself… I'll go now… You heard the school bell; I'm already late as it is…"

The man called Tsutsumi sadly hung his head as the latter went out the door. His pale green orbs watching as his younger brother went through the silver gates, traveling alone in the now deserted brick path…

"Kuroyanagi, tell me, was I wrong in my decision?" the hazel-haired man asked, motioning towards the chauffer in front of him.

"Young master, I believe you made the right choice, it may be just that young master Kanmuri is unable to show his gratitude…" a raven-haired man in his early twenties replied from behind the steering wheel.

"…I just wish it was so…" was Tsutsumi's sad reply, as the windows slid up once more.

"Give him time, young master… for now, you have the President of the Suzubishi corporation waiting for you… Shall I drive you there now?"

"Yes, please…"

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

Shigeru kicked at a small pebble that he found on the ground, following it as he walked closer and closer to the school building… 'Ouran Academy'. The pink-haired teen read the golden plaque above the open doorway… Hm. He already read a lot about it, it was one of the best schools around but then again, he always went to the best schools… His older brother Tsutsumi made sure of it… Hearing the sound of wheels grinding against the asphalt, Shigeru turned to see the black limousine driving away… Looking around, he saw that not a single student was around… Figures, the bell had already rung so everyone must be in class now… Fishing out a piece of paper from the right pocket of his blazer, Shigeru read: 'Kanmuri Shigeru. Class 4-1, Suzaku Building.'

"Hn." Shigeru frowned, how typical… to name buildings after the mythical gods of Japanese mythology… Shaking his head, he figured that he might as well look for someone to ask for directions… Walking along the marble flooring, the fair-skinned teen eventually found what seemed to be the registrar. Heading onto the desk, a bespectacled man with his long blonde hair tied up in a ponytail at the base of his neck greeted his sight.

"Why hello… How may I help you?" the man said in a rather weary tone, his half-lidded brown orbs staring up at the student before him from behind his round glasses. The guy appeared to be in his late twenties or early thirties, wearing a long-sleeved polo with a brown vest on top, a red necktie fixed around the collar, and black slacks and shoes. The lack of cat-ears and tails of the teen in front of him didn't seem to phase the blonde man one bit, seeing as he still has his own.

"Yeah, can you tell me where this is?" Shigeru asked, not bothering for introductions, as he handed the guy the piece of paper that he was holding. Although he didn't quite expect the man to be so laid back upon seeing him, usually people would either avoided him or asked him rather perverse things… maybe the guy was just too lazy to care, Shigeru told himself…

"Hm, well, you start at the Entrance Hall there, and just head on in a straight line, pass the quadrangle and enter the building directly opposite this one. It's the Suzaku also known as the Southern Building of the school…" the man explained in the same bored tone, handing the paper back. "Once you enter, go up the stairs on the right side; the first class room on the second floor is class 4-1…"

Shigeru nodded to show his understanding, folding the paper and shoving it back into his blazer's pocket. With that, he turned his back on the man and proceeded to follow his given instructions.

The blond-haired man then watched the teen disappear from his range of vision, sighing as his brown orbs gazed idly around the area, which was now void of any living creatures besides himself, his equally blonde cat ears flicking back and forth idly. Minutes later, the sound of hurried footsteps reached his ears, feeling quite surprised that there was still a student out there, he focused his eyes on the doorway where soon enough a brunet came through, panting as he tried to catch his breath. "Ah, Azuma-kun!" the blonde called out in greeting.

The brunet's cat ears perked up upon hearing someone call his name, his caramel orbs looking around until they finally landed on the blond man in the room adjacent to where he was at the moment. "Good morning, Mr. Bekko! How've you been?" Kazuma happily greeted, his long brown tail whipping about happily upon seeing a friendly face.

"Good, good… But you might want to get along now, it's already 7:05…" the man called Mr. Bekko pointed out, his slim fingers pointing towards the wall clock just above the door leading to his office.

Kazuma yelped in surprise, it was the first day of classes and he was already late… "Ah-O-Uhm, sorry and thanks Mr. Bekko… See 'ya later!!" with that the tanned teen resumed his run, this time going in his fastest speed, knowing that he was already five minutes late…

Mr. Bekko then shook his blonde head, a small smile on his lips as the brunet whisked out of his sight… Entwining both hands and stretching them as far as they could go, the man felt calmed hearing the small cracks/crunches from the bones in his hand. Sitting back on his chair, Mr. Bekko closed his eyes, letting out a great sigh, his golden cat-ears flat on his skull… Another school year had already begun, what wonders would it bring this time around? Not to mention that an interesting new student had come…

Kanmuri Shigeru… That was the name of the guy… It was easy to tell that he was new for, quite frankly, who else but the new kids would ask where their classrooms were? And he seemed to have already lost his ears and tail… Why the school board decided to accept the guy despite that, he didn't know, but it would surely mean that a lot of things were going to change…

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

**A/N:** Why I named it 'Ouran Academy'? Simply because I want the Host Club to be there! Though they probably won't play an important part… :3

Anyway, is it good? Should I continue or just delete the fic altogether? As everyone noticed, many would be quite OOC so sorry if the first chap as good as you've expected…

Suggestions and critiques are most welcome.

**(This is also a test run. The future of this fic depends on the reader's hands.)**


	2. Rule 2

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

"So you must be the new student…" a tall man said, he couldn't be more than 22 and yet he dressed in the most formal clothes that you could imagine. Pale lime green polo, a red necktie around it's collar with a black blazer on top of it all, anyone would've mistaken him for a bank manager or something of that sort… And yet, the I.D. card clipped on to the chest pocket of his blazer read: "Cho Hakkai. Adviser: Class 4-1.". His primly cut brown hair was swept to his right, as his ice blue eyes looked up and down the teen in front of him beneath his glasses.

The teen in question, on the other hand, had his poker face on, having both his hands deep within his pant pockets. He just followed the blonde man's instructions from before and true enough he found his classroom, although before he could even take another step, this guy comes along and asks why he was still out when classes were already about to start… So he unwillingly showed the guy the admission card in his blazer pocket and by (bad) luck the guy turned out to be his class adviser… Great, just great…

"I'm Cho Hakkai, your class adviser…" the brown haired man continued, offering his hand to the teen but his companion was simply irresponsive. "Erm, well, I guess I'd better introduce you to the class now… Shall we go?" Hakkai then said, upon realizing that the teen was less likely to respond at all. Turning to face the front door of the room, the man simply took a step forward and the door automatically slid open, startling the teen behind him a bit. The students all quickly stood up to greet the man, the moment he walked in, although they stopped in mid-greeting when they saw the person going in after their teacher, murmurs erupting about as they saw the teen's lack of cat-ears and tail.

Shigeru wasn't surprised at all on hearing his classmates reaction upon seeing him, it was the usual after all… The teacher stopped at the blackboard, picking up a chalk from the chalk ledge and proceeded to write up the new student's name upon the board. The teacher then called Shigeru to his side as he faced the whole class before him, all of the students now sitting in their respective seats. Putting both hands against the table in the middle of the front, the brown-haired adviser greeted…

"Good morning, everyone, welcome to another year at Ouran Academy…" Hakkai began, giving a warm smile to his students. "This year, we'll have a new student in our class, and his name is Kanmuri Shigeru… Everyone, please be kind to him…"

A couple of disgruntled looks were thrown at the pink-haired teen. What was a guy like him doing in their class?!

'He already shed his ears…'

'Teens like that weren't allowed here!'

'Maybe, it's because his family's rich…'

'Yeah, money sure can control everything…'

'Look at him! He doesn't even wear the uniform properly!'

'Even so, he's kinda cute, isn't he?'

'OMG, what are you talking about?'

'Girl, it's obvious that he already has _experience_… Just my type…'

'Yeah, and he's probably rich too…'

'But still… a guy like that in our class… it's just…'

"I don't need your kindness." Shigeru huffed through gritted teeth, causing his classmates and teacher to look at him in surprise. "I know what you're all thinking; you're all the same…judging others…" The pink-haired teen couldn't help it… every time he changed schools, trying to start anew, the same things happened… People avoiding him, treating him like he was carrying some sort of disease with him… It just wasn't fair… Back in his previous schools, everyone looked down on him… the only people who talked to him were simply perverted freaks asking him 'what it was like'… He didn't mean to be like that… It wasn't his fault… His mother had died in vain when she gave birth to him… If he only knew back then that this was how his life was going to be, then he would've rather chosen to die than to go through with all of this… Everyone was sick… Maybe there were simply some things that couldn't be changed no matter where you go…

"Well, if you're so freakin' confident with that then just get your pompous ass out of here, we don't need you either!" a black-haired guy commented, standing up from his seat his arms crossed, glaring daggers at the teen in front.

Shigeru gritted his teeth at the insult, his amethyst orbs glaring back.

"Now, now… Ohgi-kun, you didn't really mean that, right?" Hakkai said, trying to appease his students.

"Well, I did." Takaya Ohgi answered back, his eyes still not leaving Shigeru, his ebony cat-ears perked up.

"Go to hell." Shigeru spat as he turned on his heel, making his way out the door. That asshole… He didn't need this… Everyone just looking down on him… Arrogant bastar-

"Waaahh! Sorry I'm late!! Whoops!!"

Shigeru took a step back just in time as another teen entered the door… more like, tripped and fell _through_ the door actually… Shigeru blinked at the brown-haired student sprawled out on the floor before him. More than a few students stood up from their seats, their eyes wide at the sudden entrance, even the teacher was surprised; the tension in the atmosphere disappearing in an instant. The pink-haired teen dared to take a step forward but before he could even lift his feet from the floor the brunet moved.

Promptly un-sticking his face from the floor, the brown-haired teen saw a pair of crisp leather shoes in front of him. A look of horror came upon his face as he bowed his head once more both hands set upon the cold floor, the tip of his nose almost touching the marble tiles. "I'm sorry I'm late, sir. It won't happen again."

Shigeru was taken aback at the student's actions. 'What the hell…?'

Slowly, the student raised his brown head, his honey-gold orbs looking up sheepishly, expecting to see his homeroom teacher, however, he was quite surprised when it didn't turn out as he expected… A pink haired teen wearing their school uniform looked down at him, his deep purple eyes gazing at him with a perfect brow raised in question. His jaw dropped, realizing his mistake… "O-Oh… I'm really sorry… I mistook you for the class adviser… Sorry about that, my name's Kazuma… Azuma Kazuma, nice to meet you…" Kazuma said in introduction, sitting up with his legs folded underneath him (you know, the traditional way that the Japanese sit…), at the same time offering his hand to the student with a broad smile upon his lips.

'This guy is weird…' Shigeru thought to himself, studying the brunet who called himself Kazuma. By nature, he amethyst-eyed teen refused to accept the hand that was offered to him, and instead chose to simply walk away just as he was about to do so before the brunet arrived…

"Wait! What's your name? Are you new here? Wanna be friends? What's your favorite subject?" Kazuma asked one after the other, grabbing the pink-haired teen's wrist before he could walk away. He seemed to be pleasantly unaware of the other students around him.

Eyebrows furrowed as a hand stopped him from moving, looking down at the tanned teen once more, Shigeru found himself thinking… 'What is wrong with this kid?' However, the other teen's honey-gold orbs had something in them that he couldn't help but stop…

A wide smile then came upon Kazuma's lips when he saw the other student halt in his tracks. Proceeding to help himself stand up, Kazuma smiled at the pink-haired teen who was simply looking back at him with a small frown on his lips.

"What's your name?" the tanned teen repeated, giving the other teen a friendly smile.

Shaking his head, Shigeru simply pulled his hand away from the other's grasp, he was just wasting his time here… One hyperactive kid wasn't enough to change his mind…

"Where are you going? Classes are going to start soon and the teacher might arrive…" Kazuma informed the silent teen, expecting at least a reply or any type of acknowledgement however, he got his reply from a rather different person…

"Actually, Azuma-kun, the teacher _has_ arrived…" a rather jovial voice from behind the brunet said.

Kazuma's jaw hung open as he dared to turn around, finding the bespectacled class Adviser smiling at him. "H-Ha-Hakkai-sensei… I-I didn't know you were already here…" the brunet managed to say, totally forgetting about the pink-haired enigma that was now behind him.

"Oh now, don't be like that, Azuma-kun…" Hakkai continued, "Actually, I'm glad that you came to school after all… I'm sure you've already familiarized yourself with the newcomer in our class…"

"Newcomer?" Kazuma found himself asking as the class adviser placed his right hand on his left shoulder, turning him around.

"Azuma-kun, this is Kanmuri-kun, a transfer student to our school…" Hakkai said with a smile, completely ignoring the glare that he was receiving from the aforementioned transferee. "I hope that you guys would be good friends… Azuma-kun, kindly help Kanmuri-kun here to adapt to our school… Now take your seats so that we can begin the proper orientation for the whole class…" the dark-haired man added, placing his other hand on Shigeru's right shoulder, before motioning for both teens to go find their seats.

Kazuma looked at the pink-haired teen, debating whether he should say something or not… but even before he could say that 'something' the pink-haired teen briskly walked away from him.

However, Shigeru didn't go out of the classroom as he was previously trying to do; instead the teen marched right up the back of the class, sitting on the empty seat on the top left corner of the classroom, the one nearest the backdoor focusing his amethyst eyes on the wall on his left…

Kazuma looked quite taken-aback at the teen's sudden action but nonetheless moved to find his own seat as well…

The seats were divided into three columns, one on the right near the windows, the middle and the left near the doors. Each column had five rows and three columns each; and most of the seats in the front and middle were already occupied. Although, you could see empty seats here and there, most of the deserted seats were the ones at the backmost row.

Looking across the classroom, the brunet's caramel orbs spotted a young brunette whose apple green orbs were set directly at him, her hand making small motions for him to sit on the empty seat next to her (that was currently occupied by the girl's denim hand bag). Beaming, Kazuma immediately made his way towards the girl, taking his seat on the fourth row of the middle column, sitting on the leftmost seat of the row.

"Thank you, Tsukino…" the brunet said appreciatively as the brunette took her bag for him to sit down on the chair.

"It was nothing…" the apple green-eyed girl assured, smiling back at the tanned teen, knowing full-well of her friend's… tardiness… She wore the girl's school uniform, which was a long-sleeved cuff-ended white blouse with a red necktie around the collar, a blue sleeve-less vest and a short red pleated skirt, with knee-high socks and school shoes.

"Still…" Kazuma continued as he set down his backpack on the floor before his feet. "…sorry for being late again…" he said, fixing his blazer as he sat properly.

"Oh, don't worry about it…" Tsukino told her friend, 'I'm already used to it, anyway' she thought to herself. "Either way, how was your summer?"

"It was good… despite the problem that father had with onee-san, everything's fine…" the brunet mused, the façade of a smile covering the sadness behind him.

Tsukino pursed her lips, knowing that full details of the story, deciding that a change of topic should be helpful. The brunette opened her mouth to say something but even before a word left her throat, the teacher in front called out…

"Okay, class, settle down so that we can start the orientation." Hakkai voiced out as he began to distribute handbooks to his students. "Please turn to page 46, the 'Offenses and Penalties' page…"

The students obediently took to the task at hand, opening the small booklet to the mentioned page to read out what actions might give them demerit points that would bring down their hard-earned grades…

There were the usual violations: PDA (Public Display of Affection); cheating, possession of alcoholic beverages, drugs, firearms; habitual/unexcused tardiness/absences; extortion; gross misconduct; and of course, immorality…

Shigeru's eyebrow rose up to his hairline as he read with his eyes the school's rules and regulations… This was one strict hellhole, he thought to himself as the offenses and punishments went stricter with each page that he passed. He already finished reading the rules whilst the rest of the class was still following their adviser's reading and explanations. Sighing, he flipped the pages of the handbook and found himself in Academic Regulations section. Deciding that he might as well amuse himself, the teen's amethyst orbs began to scan the pages…

The rest of the week passed with further reiterations of the school policies and such, well, whom could you blame? It was already customary in the school that in the first week of classes, the class advisers were to re-orient their students of the offenses the seemed to pile up every year. But that was just the first week, the second week was for subject orientations… Translation? Prepare to meet hell.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

**Character List:**

Kazuma Azuma, Kanmuri Shigeru, Azusagawa Tsukino - students (Yakitate Japan)

Takaya Ohgi - student (Mirage of Blaze)

Cho Hakkai - class adviser (Saiyuki)

(From the previous chapter)

Tsutsumi Masanobu - Shigeru's older half-brother (Yakitate Japan)

Kuroyanagi Ryou - chauffer (Yakitate Japan)

Watashimori Bekko - school registrar (Zombie Loan)


	3. Rule 3

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

"WHY YOU UNAPPRECIATIVE BRAT!"

A few students squirmed in their seats as the teacher's stentorian voice rang throughout the classroom. The afro-haired teacher was obviously at his limit, you could almost see his eyes turn red beneath his dark sunglasses.

However, one student seemed to be unaffected by this all, despite knowing that it was thoroughly his fault; said student continued to stand, a smirk on his lips. He'd been just about tired of reeling in his dislike for about two weeks now, he needed an outlet… and what a better way to release stress than to pick on somebody… especially if said 'somebody' happens to be a strict Social Studies teacher… He hated those who abused the authority that they had, and if you add all the rules that all their teachers just gave, it would be sufficient to say that they might as well declare martial law for crying out loud!

"I OUGHTA-"

"You ought to what? Put me in detention? Oh please, that is so overrated already…" Shigeru cut in, finding delight as he watched his teacher fume.

"SCREW DETENTION!"

Numerous students gasped, never have they heard their teacher swear before. Not to mention that the teacher was known to be one of the nicest teachers around in spite of his strict nature… Cat-ears were all flat against the skulls of the students who made it a point to stay as small as possible to avoid being dragged into the ongoing 'fight'.

"Got something better, old man, or are you just gonna be a quitter?"

That riled up the teacher, this punk was getting on his nerves. He ought to teach that kid who had the authority here. "YOU!" he said through gritted teeth. "KNOW THAT I'M NOT VERY FOND OF GIVING SANCTION BUT IN YOUR CASE…"

Shigeru dared to raise an eyebrow, the tug of the smirk on his lips getting wider.

"IF YOU THINK YOU'RE SO DARNED SMART THEN FINE, GET OUT OF THIS CLASS! GOD KNOWS I COULD DO WITHOUT AN ASSHOLE LIKE YOU IN HERE! CONSIDER YOURSELF DROPPED OF THIS SUBJECT!"

The amethyst-eyed teen opened his mouth to retaliate but he found himself speechless as another student stood up.

Even the teacher was surprised when a tanned brunet stood from his seat, with a rather determined look in his eyes.

"In behalf of the class, Matsushiro-sensei, I wish to beg pardon." The brunet bowed as he spoke, his otherwise soft voice rang in the suddenly silent classroom. Many students' eyes grew wide, nobody expected anyone to make a move at all… it wasn't like they gave a damn about the arrogant new student, anyway… and yet…

"Mr. Azuma, I appreciate your concern for the class' but I assure you that the only that bastard would receive punishment." Matsushiro Ken replied, his eyes still glaring daggers at the pink-haired student.

"Forgive my disagreement Sensei, but I believe that Kanmuri-san is also a part of this class." Kazuma politely reminded his teacher. His voice was firm and yet, deep within him, he felt his very soul tremble in fear… WHAT IN THE WORLD MADE HIM DO THIS?!

"Don't be an idiot." Shigeru suddenly stated, making his teacher and classmates turn to look at him. His amethyst eyes were focused on Kazuma. "Look, just back off, would you? I don't need a national hero here right now, thank you very much." the pink-haired teen said, his voice sardonic.

"Sorry, but I'm speaking for the well-being of the whole class, here." Kazuma replied, his tone still light, but somehow, he couldn't explain why suddenly felt so much more anxious… He then turned back to his teacher, "I'm sorry once again, Matsushiro-sensei. Kanmuri-san is just new here, so he might just be… unaccustomed to the rules that the school and its teachers has… Please give him time."

"Look, I don't need-" Shigeru began but he found his words stuck in his throat as Kazuma shot him a sideways glance… the look in his eyes was enough to make the pink-haired teen hold back his tongue. The fair-skinned teen felt unfamiliar sensations sweep through him… he simply didn't understand that brunet…

Matsushiro's lips became a fine line, as though he was considering the tanned student's words. Rarely had he seen that brunet with such a serious demeanor; Kazuma usually had a serious expression only when he was participating in academic contests, quiz bees and such. To see the brunet's serious expression at a time like this…

Kazuma was one of the best students in his batch, Matsushiro knew that well – having taught the brunet's class for about five years now. In addition, he knew that the brunet had a deep sense of care and responsibility for his classmates, being class president and all… Heaving a great sigh, the afro-haired teacher knew he'd lost…

"Be thankful to Mr. Azuma, here, bastard." he said, now talking to Shigeru. "If it wasn't for him, you'd most likely be down in the principal's office right now."

Kazuma breathed a sigh of relief; finally, the whole mess was over. Turning to look at the pink-haired teen, Kazuma found himself utterly confused and fearful seeing the fair teen glaring at him. He tried to say something, wanting to explain himself but Shigeru simply 'hmph'-ed and looked away before sitting down once again, choosing to face the wall instead of anyone else. Seeing his classmate's reaction, Kazuma limply fell back on his seat, a thoroughly crestfallen look on his face.

Tsukino was not blind to her friend's state, patting Kazuma's shoulder, the brunette offered a smile, "You did the right thing, Kazuma…" to which the brunet only managed a weak smile in reply.

"Now, having wasted ten minutes, I am left with five minutes to explain the project for this quarter…" Matsushiro continued after checking the watch strapped on his left hand. "Okay, so for the project, the class will be divided into pairs and the students are given the chance to choose their partner. Each pair would conduct a research in regards to the economic status of the country. You would need to show proof of your research like the GNPs, Average Salary of the workers, and such. Criteria will be: 50 percent – Content; 30 percent – Relevance; and 20 percent – Overall Impact. Sine today's September 11, the project's deadline will be on October 10; I will not accept late projects. Any questions?"

When no student raised a hand to ask, the bulky teacher continued. "Okay, you have three minutes to find your partner, all pairs should then write in a one-fourth sheet of paper their name and place it on the teacher's table in front of me. Start!"

Students instantly turned to their side, back or front, asking if the student sitting there would like to be partners. Others stood from their seats and went all the way across the room to ask one another to be their project partner… And as per usual, Kazuma found himself surrounded by almost half of the girls in the class, each of them asking to be his partner. Kazuma couldn't even manage to see a way out… the barricade simply consisted of so many!

"AND BEFORE I FORGET!" Matsushiro Ken called out, raising his voice to overcome the voices of his students and automatically getting the attention the wanted. "I assign Mr. Azuma to be partners with that bastard on the top-left corner of the classroom."

"EH?!" tens of girls exclaimed as they turned towards the said corner, finding Shigeru who had his arms crossed and looked like he didn't give a damn, pleasantly ignoring the small gathering of girls that had also gathered around him.

Kazuma finally managed to see his partner as the group of girls surrounding him eventually dissolved as they went off to find some other partner for the project. His honey-gold orbs somehow managed to meet the pink-haired teen's amethyst eyes but the smile he gave was returned with another glare. Nonetheless, Kazuma was not easily put down, though it wasn't a direct nor an exact command, Hakkai-sensei had asked him to help Kanmuri adapt to the school, and by all means, he'd do just that…

Not a moment too soon, the sound of the bell rang throughout the classroom. Kazuma had taken it upon himself to write up his and his partner's name in the sheet of paper, which he had passed, and that Matsushiro was now collecting.

"No papers left?" the muscular man asked, raising the stack of one-fourths that he had gathered and when no student replied, he took it upon himself to leave the room without another word.

"Nice going, jackass." Takaya immediately commented the moment the door closed after the teacher's departure, his tone was offensive and his charcoal orbs were directed at Shigeru.

"Yeah, you just had to make sure you were noticed… Way to go, loser!" a random girl chimed in.

Kazuma watched as the pink-haired teen tore his eyes away from the wall, he saw the teen look down on the floor, the student's pink bangs blocking his view of the fair teen's face. Suddenly, without any warning or even a word, Shigeru picked up his messenger bag and sprinted out the door. Kazuma just found himself halfway out of his seat but before he could make another move, the door slid shut once again.

"Hmph! What a loser… See who the quitter is now…" the raven-haired teen went at it again, earning a couple of disdainful laughs from a few of his close friends.

"Ohgi-san, please stop that." Kazuma said, turning towards the teen.

"Oh what? You're going to be his lawyer now?" Takaya continued to mock. "Look, Azuma, just because you're class president and a resident teacher's pet, it doesn't mean that everyone would listen to everything you babble about."

"Why you…" He and Takaya never got along from the very beginning but at that moment, Kazuma realized that he might just have found out what the word 'fury' truly meant. But Tsukino was quick, her hand immediately found the tanned teen's wrist, holding him back.

"Don't make me laugh, Azuma. We all know you can't even hurt a fly." Takaya scoffed as he hoisted his suitcase (you know the usual bag for the Japanese students) behind one shoulder. "Let's go Narita," he then called to his friend, a sandy-haired teen who was one of the quietest in the class. The raven-haired teen then lead the way, his cat-ears leisurely set back on his skull, his rather reserved friend quickly following him but just as he reached the middle column, the boy named Narita stopped and looked Kazuma in the eyes.

The teen bowed, muttering "Please forgive Takaya-kun for his rudeness." before following the rude teen out the door.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

"Hey, Azuma? … Azuma? AZUMA!"

"H-Huh?! What? Oh. S-Sorry, Tsukino, I wasn't listening… Were you saying something?" Kazuma said, his voice startled, an obvious sign that he was thinking deeply again.

Tsukino shook her head sadly, Kazuma would never change… Nevertheless, she needed an answer to her question. "Azuma, why did you stand up for Kanmuri-san earlier? You know that you didn't have to…" the brunette repeated her question.

"Oh…" Kazuma replied, keeping his eyes on the ground, kicking a random pebble with his feet as he continued to tread his way out of the school with Tsukino. "…Well… I dunno…" he finally replied after a few moments of thought.

"Hmmm…" Tsukino's tone indicated that she didn't quite believe her friend's words. "Come on Azuma, you can tell me…"

"It's nothing, I swear…" Kazuma repeated. "I just…" he stopped in his tracks, Tsukino halting as well to hear his words, her light brown cat-ears perking up. "I just think that he's misunderstood… He'd have to be really smart to get into the top class after all, even for a transferee… So… I dunno… Maybe… I just want to give him a chance to prove himself… He's new at our school as well so…" Kazuma bit his lip, his cat ears lying flat on his skull with his tail swishing around agitatedly and Tsukino knew that this was a sure sign that the brunet was really thinking hard, but just as she thought that Kazuma was going to elaborate his words…

"ARGH! I don't know… maybe I'm just thinking up stuff!" Kazuma blurted out, his hands going to his hair and ruffling them all up. "Maybe it's just because I've never really experienced having a transferee in the class when we're already in the graduating year… so, maybe I was just intrigued a bit and all, you know…"

Tsukino couldn't help but sweat drop at her friend's words, tucking behind some stray strands of her light brown hair behind her ear, her tail (which resembled the one's of a fox) swished in the softly blowing breeze. "Well, either way, I'm sure you'd get to know him better as the school year continues to unfold…" she said, hoping to cheer up the brunet in some way. "Besides, this is already our last year of High School so we might as well enjoy it to the fullest."

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

**A/N:** cliché isn't it?

**Additional Characters:**

Matsushiro Ken – Social Studies teacher (Yakitate Japan)

Yuzuru Narita – Takaya's best friend (Mirage of Blaze)


	4. Rule 4

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

The brunet continued to tread past the halls of the Senior Building, his cat-ears leaning as forward as they could ever go, his brown tail swishing left and right behind him. Honey-gold orbs were narrowed, focused in front of him.

Three weeks came and went all too fast, and it was already quite late when Kazuma realized that he haven't really gotten a start in his Social Studies project. He'd already completed all his projects for his other subjects (and even passed them before the deadline came) and it thoroughly irritated him when he checked his organizer and found that he hadn't even done a single thing in regards to the aforementioned requirement. He wasn't grade conscious or anything, but being in the cream section and being one of the competitors for the title of 'Valedictorian', he knew that there was a lot of expectations from him. And being the person that he was, he just didn't want to disappoint his teachers… which would then lead to why he was currently stalking about the whole Senior Building in the middle of high noon this Friday… (A/N: during Friday, they'd have half-day classes)

Lately, he noticed that his supposed project partner was having absences… Like in this week for example, he barely remembered seeing the pink-haired teen for only about two or three times… and that was for the whole week. He'd already excused himself from Tsukino saying that he couldn't accompany her in going home for the day due to his project dilemma. So now his problem lies with finding his partner… He'd already gone and asked the classrooms on the third and second floor, his only hope now was to somehow, miraculously find the pink-haired enigma in the first floor – but even he knew that there was a less than a ten percent chance that he'd find the teen there. Nevertheless, he couldn't just leave Kanmuri out like that… he'd swore upon himself that he'd help the teen adapt… but come to think of it… So far, the best that he'd done was to defend the teen from their Social Science teacher, and Kanmuri seemed to even become angry at him for that. Still, he'd promised himself… and when he made a promise, he'll sure as hell keep theEEEEee-

"Azuma-kun, are you alright?" a familiar concerned voice came to Kazuma's ears.

'Note to self: NEVER think too much while going down the stairs.' Kazuma noted mentally before looking up at the man who had helped catch his fall. He had been caught by his right wrist and thankfully, his feet were still on the steps. "Thank you, Hakkai-sensei…" Kazuma said as his class adviser helped him to stand up properly again.

"Don't mention it… But do explain why you were going down the stairs so fast… you could've hurt yourself you know…" the brown-haired man said, the perpetual smile on his face.

"Well, I was looking for Kanmuri-san, Sensei… You see, he's supposed to be my project partner in Social Studies but since he's been missing out on class lately, we haven't been able to start on our project, and the deadline is already due next week." Kazuma explained.

"Hm… Kanmuri-kun didn't go to school today either, did he?"

"Nope, Sensei…"

"It can't be helped then… Follow me Azuma-kun…" the man then led the way, going down the stairs and onto the hallway on the right, making a bee-line to the last room. "Please wait outside," Hakkai reminded his student before taking his ID card and swiping it on what appeared to be some kind of bar code machine. A small button then glowed green and the door opened, revealing the teacher's lounge. Hakkai then entered the room, and the door instantly slid shut after him. After a few minutes, the advisor went out, this time bringing along with him a small piece of paper that he handed to Kazuma.

The tanned teen eyed the paper with much interest as his teacher explained.

"Now, Azuma-kun, the address on that paper is Kanmuri-kun's. Duly note that it is quite forbidden for us teachers to disclose other student's private information to others but, we have a special case at hand…" Hakkai explained, taking off his glasses and putting them into his blazer pocket. "You have your project issue to solve with him, whereas I'd like to ask you a little favor as well while you're already there…"

"And what would that be, Sensei?" Kazuma queried.

"Can you ask him as to why he's been having habitual absences… Such things might affect his grade, after all. And it would be such a waste if his ranking would go down just because of his bad conduct…"

"Sure! Well, I'd better go now, bye and thank you, Hakkai-sensei!" Kazuma then took off at a run, quickly pocketing the piece of paper in his slacks.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

The time was one-forty-five in the afternoon; a teenage brunet in a yellow t-shirt and faded denim shorts with a backpack strapped on his back could be seen walking round and round a rather empty street. He kept on looking back and forth between a piece of paper in his right hand and the street and house numbers.

"30… 31… 32… 33… There! 34!!" the brunet exclaimed as he finally found the right place as indicated in the paper. "Whoa…" his jaw dropped in awe as his honey-gold eyes feasted at the sight of the house. "Kanmuri-san lives here?!" he couldn't help but wonder out loud. He was standing just before a set of black painted gates, intricate designs interlacing the metallic blockade. From his position, he could see a fine asphalt road (that looked more like a driveway) that connected the road to the house, with another path that led somewhere in the back, he guessed. And the front lawn was absolutely wonderful; he'd never seen anything so fresh and lively as that was. But still, the most eye-catching of all was the house itself… Wait, 'house' was an understatement… 'Mansion' is more appropriate. The mansion was bathed in soothing cream-hued paint, with gold trimmings to outline the designs. It was huge. He could barely approximate three floors and maybe around forty rooms in the whole house, based from the number of windows that can be seen outside. Not to mention the balcony right smack above the golden oak doors which appear to be the main doors of the house.

Kazuma dared to step closer to the gates, and he almost had a heart attack when a voice spoke from beside him. Looking around frantically, Kazuma gave a heavy sigh when he realized that there was a receiver with a small TV screen at the right of the gate, as well as a surveillance camera just above it, and the lens were directed right at him.

"Kindly state your name and business," an old man with white hair and a mustache in the screen said.

"U-Uhm… My name's Azuma Kazuma and I… I was kind of looking for my classmate, Kanmuri Shigeru." Kazuma said onto the receiver. "Um… I-Is this the right house?" he added rather hesitantly when he saw a surprised look on the old man's face through the TV screen.

"For a moment, please." the old man said before the screen went blank. Kazuma blinked in surprise as not a second later the screen went on again, the old man reappearing. "Please go ahead," was all that he said before the screen went blank again and the gates began to open all on their own.

Kazuma was thoroughly amazed to find such technology… It was simply superb, but then again, he wasn't there to criticize a house… Making up his mind, Kazuma then stepped across the gates, gathering his confidence as he stepped up to the main doors. Knocking thrice, the brunet was surprised once again when the doors were opened by two maids who wore identical uniforms. A rather burly man then stepped in and ran a metal detector all through the contours of his body, nodding that he may proceed after having negative results. Despite his previous disposition, Kazuma couldn't help but stare in awe at the extravagance of the house, in front of him a magnificent staircase was placed with a red carpet running along it's middle, it's arms stretching east and west. A soft golden glow was set upon the whole room and it wasn't a surprise to Kazuma to find numerous crystal chandeliers hanging in the high ceiling. The furniture all looked imported with their beauty and elegance that looked utterly European. The entrance hall was wide… as wide as wide can be… And just when Kazuma thought he was jut about ready to drool at the sight, an unfamiliar voice greeted him.

"So you must be Azuma-kun… Kanmuri-kun's classmate…" a hazel brown haired guy said as he walked down the flight of stairs with such elegance and poise that you might as well mistake him for some kind of royalty. His cat ears were placidly resting atop his head as his long and skinny tail swayed about in a gentle manner.

"Y-Yes… sir…?" Kazuma replied, quite unsure of what to call the unfamiliar person, his cat ears shying onto his head.

"Call me Tsutsumi…" the guy said.

"Alright then, Tsutsumi-san…" Kazuma said, trying out the name. "Do you happen to know where Kanmuri-san is? It's sort of urgent…"

"I'll lead you there myself…" Tsutsumi stated as he began to walk, Kazuma following him on instinct. "You know, you're the very first classmate of my brother's that I've ever met…"

"Y-You're Kanmuri-san's brother?!" Kazuma asked in disbelief. Well, who could blame him? The person in front of him was obviously well mannered and raised in a high-class society and Kanmuri… well, it'd be easier to say that it was quite a distant catch.

"Half-brother actually." Tsutsumi corrected. "So, what is the reason that you're here? It's very rare for anyone to actually come here and look for Kanmuri-kun…"

"Oh…" 'Well that surely explained things', was Kazuma's mental thoughts. "Well, Tsutsumi-san, to begin with I was paired up by our Social Studies teacher with Kanmuri-san in doing the project for the first quarter… But since Kanmuri-san has been skipping school lately, suffice to say, nothing has been done in regards to our supposed dual project… That's why I came here to ask if anything was wrong with him that he wasn't able to attend school…"

"I see… Well, here we are… I think that it'd be better for you to ask him that yourself…" Tsutsumi said as he stopped in front of a mahogany door. They were in the second floor of the mansion, in the hallway to the left, and the door was the fifth one on their right side. Taking a deep breath, the hazel-haired man knocked twice, calling out, "Kanmuri-kun? Open up, someone's here to see you."

Kazuma could hear the pounding of footsteps coming closer to the door until it finally opened, revealing a rather unruly looking Kanmuri Shigeru.

His cherry-blossom pink hair was damp and it stuck out in all places, he wore a plain white tank top and a pair of loose black sweatpants. His amethyst orbs were set in a glare as he looked upon the 'disturbers of his peace'. His eyebrow instantly arched when he saw Kazuma standing there beside Tsutsumi. "What are you doing here?!" he demanded his eyes setting on the tanned teen and completely ignoring his brother.

"You very well know why I'm here." Kazuma replied in the same tone, not wanting to be outdone. He did not come here for nothing.

Shigeru stayed silent at that, his eyes still not leaving Kazuma. Finally, he spoke, "You can go now, Tsutsumi. I'll handle this…" At the same time he backed away and pulled the door open, a sort of sign for Kazuma to head in.

The burnet, who was least expecting it to happen was quite literally frozen on the spot. It was only when Tsutsumi excused himself to leave did Kazuma realize that Shigeru had now left the door open, most likely having gone inside. Saying a short thanks to Tsutsumi, Kazuma then went inside the open door, a cold breeze of artificial air greeting him as he carefully closed the door when he reached the inside.

In contrast to the elegant, almost palace-like motif of what he had seen of the house, Kazuma found Shigeru's room quite… surprising. It was like he made a jump from the Victorian Era to the Future… Everything was in the colors of white, black or metallic; and it doesn't help either that the room was already much like a house itself. The tanned teen found a living room set on his right and a kitchen farther on; to his left, Kazuma saw a fully furnished bedroom with a small coffee table with three seats, a computer, a mini library and a two doors which were still unknown to him. However, Kazuma couldn't find Shigeru in either of the two divisions… Scratching his head just behind his ears Kazuma yelped in surprise as one of the two doors opened, revealing Shigeru who now wore a black sweat jacket to match his sweat pants.

"So, what did you come here for? Some bastard teacher told you to tell me that I'd be suspended or expelled if I continue my absences?" Shigeru asked casually, taking a can of cola from the coffee table and drinking from it.

"No. I came here to know exactly why you weren't attending school… Usually, student's skip class if they're sick, and you definitely don't look sick to me…" Kazuma said, his arms in his pant pockets, determined to get answers.

"I'm not stupid you know." Shigeru replied bitterly, disposing the now-empty can of cola into his trash bin. "I know when I'm not wanted." He added, his amethyst eyes looking Kazuma eye to eye.

"When you're-?" Kazuma was about to ask but he just realized what the teen meant. "Oh, come now… You can't possibly-"

"I'm not blind either, I know what others are saying behind my back, more so of those in front of me." Shigeru continued, taking a few steps closer to Kazuma as he crossed his arms. "So you can save your breath and just go back, I'll be fixing my drop-out papers, they'll be arriving at school around next week. You could already tell this to your classmates, especially to that son of a bitch Takaya. I'm sure they'll all be happy as hell."

"You know, I believe that everyone knows oneself better than anyone else." Kazuma said, rising up to the challenge. "So if I know that what others are saying about me aren't true, I won't give a damn of what they think. They're the ones who're in the wrong. So I don't see why you have to do all this just because Ohgi-san says mean things about you…"

"Wow, and I thought you couldn't get any shallower… Hmph, 'mean'?" Shigeru shook his head a disdainful smirk on his lips. "I don't think you see my point here… NOBODY cares, alright? So just go back to wherever you came fro-"

"I care."

Kazuma's simple sentence was enough to cut off Shigeru's statement, the pink-haired teen was quite shocked at the brunet's words but he quickly recovered.

"Please… stop kidding yourself, petty words won't help you…"

"But I'm serious. I care, Kanmuri-san." Kazuma repeated earnestly. "And it's because of that that I came here… to see if you're alright."

"Stop brewing your lies…" Shigeru spat, looking away. "Why are you really here?"

"Initially, I came here to ask your help in the dual project that was assigned to us in Social Studies…" Kazuma began, "But Hakkai-sensei came and reminded me to tell you that your grades might suffer if you continue your unexplained absences… I believe that you have potential, Kanmuri-san. Hakkai-sensei does too… So…" Kazuma bit his lip, becoming quite unsure of what he should say now…

Shigeru's head felt like it was spinning… Never had anyone believed in him so much… Never had anyone gone through such lengths just because they cared about his grades… He never even cared about his grades himself… But then this kid comes along… He chanced a sideways glance at the brunet, finding the tanned teen looking at the complete opposite direction from him, biting his lip as his eyes that were like pools of molten gold glistened in the lighting. The brunet's cat ears were leisurely flicking back and forth as his tail gently swung behind him. Shigeru found his lips dropping ajar… The brunet was the very image of innocence in his eyes… He never thought that such a person still existed in this damned world… But the million dollar question still lingered… Should he trust the brunet?

At that moment Kazuma's eyes shifted, looking up at the pink-haired teen where his honey-gold orbs were held by intense amethyst ones. Kazuma felt his throat run dry, even if Shigeru was just looking sideways at him, there was something about the teen that always made him stop. "So… what about it?" he decided to ask, just to break the eerie silence that surrounded them. "Prove to them that they're wrong about you… Show them that you can best them all… I trust that you can do it…"

"Why?" Shigeru asked, turning to look at the brunet as though he had somehow grown another head. 'Why do you have to do all this?!'

"Because." Kazuma replied simply, a warm smile making its way on his lips.

"You are _so _weird."

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

**A/N:** Shigeru said the last line if someone got confused. :D I simply love that line especially since I got it from Haruka… -squeal-

So... yeah... my quarterly exams are comin' this week, and I'm pretty sure I'll be busy as hell... But I'm sure as hell not going to abondon this... It might just take a bit longer before I update again... yeah... At least you guys know I'm still alive right? ... right? And can someone _please_ tell me that there are actually people reading this? I'm starting to feel alone... -neglected-


	5. Rule 5

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

"KANMURI-SAAAAAAAAAANNN!" Kazuma screamed as his grip around the aforementioned teen's middle became tighter with each swerve that their vehicle made. Damn, why did he have to put himself in this?! "BE CAREFUL!" he screamed as Shigeru sped up to catch the green light; the fair-skinned teen however, just laughed his at his words. 'Craaaaaap…' Kazuma swore in his mind, this was why never wanted to ride motorcycles. Even though Shigeru had lent him a safety helmet, it wasn't quite enough to calm him down, especially when the driver was going at 80 miles per hour… "Turn left there and stop when you reach the Amestris Towers!" he shouted his directions, to which Shigeru obliged, making another swerve. Kazuma felt his insides tumble all over, feeling like his lunch was coming back to haunt him… Realizing that he couldn't take it anymore, Kazuma leaned his head against Shigeru's back, closing his eyes and swearing to himself that he'll never EVER ride another motorcycle for the rest of his life.

Shigeru was used to riding his motorcycle, even much faster than the speed he as going at now, but in all his years of riding, he haven't felt anything like he had now… His stomach seemed to have dislocated itself and was currently bouncing all around inside him.

It was some minutes past two in the afternoon; the two teens were currently cruising along the streets of Tokyo, making their way to the tanned one's place to do their project there. Why? Because Kazuma had already gathered up all the reference materials there and it'd be a pain to move them all from one location to another. It was then that Shigeru offered to take care of the ride, to which Kazuma happily accepted, thinking that the teen had finally become more sociable… But the brunet was in utter shock when the pink-haired teen told him that they'd be riding on his motorbike - a red state-of-the art motorcycle that had (literally) flaming designs on it. The streets barely had any vehicles about so it only took them about ten minutes to get to the brunet's place from Shigeru's, which would've taken maybe twenty minutes at the most if there was traffic…

"Is this the place?" Shigeru asked, stopping his motorbike right in front of what appeared to be a gray-hued thirty-story building; lifting up the visor of his own flaming red helmet, his amethyst eyes gazed up at the structure.

Raising his helmet-covered head, Kazuma nodded when he saw that they were indeed at the place where he took residence and the brunet was very much thankful to all the gods above that he somehow managed to survive the hellish ride. He then directed Shigeru to go around the left side where a parking lot on the adjacent the building is located before the two of them went inside Amestris Towers.

Shigeru's amethyst orbs saw the usual look of a hotel, the guards at the entrance, busboys running about, the reception area at his left side, the elevators on his right and a large lounge with numerous tables, chairs and sofas that occupied most of the lobby.

After letting his companion look around the lobby for a few moments, Kazuma tapped the slightly taller teen on his shoulder, motioning for the fair teen to follow him, his car ears flexing back and forth after having been contained within the helmet for the past few minutes. Having left both helmets on the motorbike, Shigeru simply crossed his arms in front of his chest as he followed the brunet into the elevator.

Once inside the (surprisingly) empty elevator, Kazuma pressed the button with a number nineteen on it, his tail swinging back and forth excitedly. Finally, they'd be able to finish their project! The metal box then began its ascent, stopping every few floors to accept other passengers. Finally reaching the nineteenth floor, Kazuma and Shigeru excused themselves from the other passengers as they got out of the now full elevator. Walking on to the hallway to the right, Kazuma stopped on the door with the label 197 placed right at the center of the door. The tanned teen then got out his keys from his backpack and proceeded to unlock the door, allowing his guest to step inside first before he came in and locked the door afterwards.

Sharp amethyst eyes scanned the room, finding himself in a rather short hallway, a few steps from the actual room. Taking further steps, he saw that the room adjoining the first hallway sunk by about three steps; there, a wide black sofa, with two adjoining one-person seats placed around a rectangular glass table with a wide flat-screen television in front was set before them. Further on, if you go in a straight line, you would find wide glass windows where walls would usually have been placed. The window covered the whole wall from top to bottom and ended on the walls on either side of it, effectively giving plentiful light to the room. To the left of the sunken living room, three steps above, Shigeru found the kitchen – a long bar counter in the middle with the refrigerator, pantry, sink, and stoves all placed around it. There was a wall on either side of the kitchen with a door each. Kazuma proceeded to the one on the right, turning the doorknob to reveal his bedroom; turning on the lights via the switch just beside the door.

The first thing Shigeru saw when he entered the room was the neatly done queen-sized bed on his right side with the headboard set against the wall; the pillows were pristine white in contrast to the jade green blankets. Beside the bed, nearer to him was a bedside table, which had a single occupant on top: a silver digital alarm clock. Opposite the bed, was a wooden study desk; its top was covered with books of all shapes and sizes and a few notebooks and organizers. There was also a can on the corner where different pens and highlighters resided. On the wall above it, a pin-up board was placed where Shigeru could read a few schedules and deadlines. There was a computer just beside the study desk, and lastly, a large wardrobe on the wall with the door. However, unlike the room outside, the window in the bedroom was of the average size, although it was still quite spacious.

"Let's get started, then!" Kazuma invited his cat ears perking up as he started to boot his computer.

"Remind me, what topic does that project tackle again?" Shigeru asked, picking up a random book from the study desk with a perfect brow raised in question.

"It's Social Studies, so we're supposed to give a report about the economic status and stability of the country… Anything that's related to that will be fine." Kazuma replied sitting down on the computer chair facing the monitor. "We could also compare and contrast the current status to those of the past…"

"Now what?" Shigeru queried again, this time crossing his arms.

"Oh, sorry for not explaining…" the tanned teen apologized as he faced Shigeru, his cat ears lying flat on his skull sheepishly. "I'll do some research on the topic in the internet whilst you browse the books and note down some important information in one of the notebooks."

At that Shigeru frowned, "Hey! Why do _I_ have to do the boring work?"

"Because it's _my_ computer," Kazuma said simply. "And besides, we're practically doing the same thing: collecting data. I don't see any difference in that…"

Shigeru saw the brunet's point and argued no further. "Where do I write?" he then asked, eying the three or four different colored notebooks that were laid on top of the desk.

"On the purple one." Kazuma answered not even bothering to look as he began his search on the Internet.

"Would you mind if I highlighted some words?" the pink-haired teen continued to ask as he began to gather the materials that he would need – the books, notebook and a couple of pens, and it was then that he noticed the highlighters.

Kazuma paused in his actions when he heard the other teen's words, a smile unknowingly appearing on his lips as he turned to face his fellow student. "Not at all…" he affirmed, his honey-gold eyes looking up at his companion.

Shigeru quickly broke eye contact and just nodded to show that he understood, he then placed the references in his hands on the floor, just so that he could have an excuse to turn away from the brunet… He simply found the brunet's smile… unusual… It simply intrigued him…

"H-Hey! What are you doing?" Kazuma asked, quite surprised at seeing his classmate sit down on the carpeted floor with the different paraphernalia scattered about him.

"Working on that project…" Shigeru replied, opting not to look at Kazuma as he sat cross-legged and reached out for a book. However, a tanned hand grabbed his own even before he could reach the material.

"You don't have to work on the floor!" Kazuma emphasized, kneeling on one knee whist still keeping his firm hold on the other's wrist. His eyebrows creased in worry with his cat ears lying on either side of his head.

Shigeru knew that it was inevitable for him not to look at Kazuma as his amethyst eyes were once again gazing at the brunet as he replied. "Look, I'm more comfortable working like this…" he said curtly, "and besides, that desk's space is cramped…" he added, smiling at Kazuma, his tone quite light in contrast to his words.

That smile triggered something in the tanned teen. Kazuma felt an uneasy feeling go through his very veins… Brown cat ears and tail flicking in an agitated manner. His honey-gold orbs were as wide as his mouth was, not really expecting Shigeru to smile at him like that. Even though he was sure that the teen was sarcastic, the smile was still a smile… "O-Oh…" he managed to reply weakly, withdrawing his hold on Shigeru, his eyes traveling to the floor's forest green carpet. "I-I'll go do my part then…" he added quickly as he promptly stood up and went back to his computer; unusual feelings swelling up inside him, and he couldn't quite understand them all… Moreover, why was he already losing it with just a simple smile?!

Shigeru watched with confusion as the tanned teen turned away from him with his tail flicking left and right anxiously; feeling much dread when he thought that he might've caused it… At that, Shigeru caught himself, his eyebrows meeting as he asked himself, since when did he begin to care? Shutting his eyes and shaking his head, mentally telling himself that he shouldn't think like that again, the fair-skinned teen set his mind to do the task at hand.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

It was already fifteen minutes past five when Kazuma stopped his work, having saved all the needed documents in his folders. Sneaking a glance behind him, the brunet saw that his partner was still working, flipping the pages of one of the books as he wrote down notes here and there…

The two of them have worked in complete silence all this time, and somehow, the silence had helped the tanned teen to calm down as right now, his cat ears were in their normal state… A smile then made its way onto his lips as a wonderful idea popped into his head… Leaving his computer on, the tanned teen casually walked out of his room, leaving behind his classmate, who didn't even seem to notice his leaving…

Minutes later, Shigeru was quite surprised when his stomach suddenly rumbled, consequently as a rather palatable smell wafted into his nostrils. Looking up, the pink-haired teen was in utter surprise when his amethyst orbs were greeted with the sight of Kazuma in a blue and white checkered apron carrying a batch of freshly baked muffins, two tall glasses and a jug of orange juice all set upon a silver tray. And he was even more startled when the brunet set down the tray before him; a light dusting of pink appearing on his cheeks when his stomach rumbled again, this time a bit louder.

"Seems like I made these just in time," Kazuma commented as he set aside the books so that they wouldn't get wet in case there would be an accident with the juice. And it was pretty hard to miss the happiness in his voice with his tail swishing happily behind him.

"You didn't have to…" Shigeru said, trying his earnest not to salivate at the sight of Kazuma's cooking, which is really quite a sight to behold seeing that it was rare that anyone cooked anything just for him.

"We've been going at this project for three hours straight now, Kanmuri-san, I think we both deserve to eat…" the brunet added when the pink-haired teen was rather unwilling to put down the pen he was using. "Alright?" Kazuma then flashed a smile at his classmate.

"Why are you so nice to me?" Shigeru couldn't help but ask, his tone albeit accusing as his eyes held caramel ones.

"Is it wrong?" Kazuma queried back, his eyes quite wide that someone would take his kindness in a negative way.

Shigeru didn't know if he should laugh at the brunet's ideals or not… It was just plain absurd to him… The boy was simply naïve… "Are you blind? Or are you just stupid?"

"Huh?" Kazuma tilted his head to his right, not quite understanding what the other meant, his tail drooping on the floor.

"Can't you see? I don't have those cat ears and tail like everyone else does!" Shigeru exclaimed. He didn't know why he burst out like that, he knew that it was totally unneeded and yet he wasn't able to stop himself… He just wanted to know why the teen treated him like that… like an equal… when everyone else pointedly saw him as either a person to be avoided or a person to flirt with.

"So?" Kazuma said, still not getting his classmate's point.

Shigeru's jaw simply dropped open at the tanned teen's reply. It was the last thing that he had expected… but somehow, he had an inkling that it was just so.

"My sister once told me that losing one's cat ears and tail was simply a part of life…" Kazuma expounded. "But then…" a disheartened expression suddenly came over the brunet's features, but the expression left as quickly as it came and Kazuma ended up sheepishly scratching the back of his head. "Well, either way, I don't see why I should make such a fuss over whether someone has those cat ears or not… And its not like you're the only one without them… Many adults have shed theirs anyway, so it isn't anything unusual…"

The fair-skinned teen was quite suspicious especially when Kazuma pointedly turned away from his pensive mood. But he knew that he had no right to question the teen… he wasn't anyone close to him and it sure sounded like private matters… Still, everything became clear to him now… Kazuma was the type to show kindness to everyone even though he himself was having huge problems…

"Let's eat now, shall we? Before all this gets cold…" Kazuma said, quite unnerved as he felt Shigeru's eyes on him. He then busied himself with pouring orange juice for the two of them. "Take one, Kanmuri-san…" he invited as he bit into a golden yellow muffin.

Without another word, Shigeru reached out and took one muffin from the platter, examining it with his eyes for a few seconds before he took a bite. His stomach purring happily as it welcomed food… Not long after he took another one… and another… and another… The muffin population on the platter was quickly diminishing…

"… Not bad…" Shigeru said in between mouthfuls, his amethyst eyes half-lidded as he looked somewhere at his side.

Kazuma on the other hand was in a state of shock. "Was that a compliment, Kanmuri-san?" he asked, blinking.

"Of course not! Make more, I'm still starving…" the pink-haired teen continued as he gobbled down more muffins with much gusto.

"EH? Since when did you have the authority to boss me around?!" Kazuma complained.

"Since I'm a guest at your place and for you to be a good host you must serve to my every need…" Shigeru replied, gulping down some juice.

"Well, how 'bout I just kick you out right now?"

"Can't."

"And _why_ can I not?"

"Just bake more…"

"Idiot."

"Go on…" with that Shigeru waved Kazuma away and the tanned teen merely gave him a glare before heading out with the empty platter to make more, seeing as he himself still wasn't satiated.

Minutes later, Kazuma returned with another platter full of muffins.

"Finally." Shigeru said as he put down the notebook wherein he was previously writing in, at the same time closing the book from which he was reading.

"You'd better hope I hadn't put poison in those…" Kazuma said with an insinuative tone as he set down the platter once more, sitting cross-legged opposite Shigeru.

"I'll take my chances…" Shigeru replied with a grin, reaching out for a muffin. However, he was stalled when he saw Kazuma's eyes focused on him with a warm smile on the tanned teen's features. "What?" he asked.

"Nothing…" Kazuma replied with a shrug, his cat ears lying flat on his head. "You just look better when you're smiling." he commented.

Shigeru raised an eyebrow at that.

"W-Well… at school you're always just frowning or aggravating others… so…" Kazuma's eyes went downcast as they stared down at the food that he made, his cat tail curling up behind him as he furiously fought against the warmth in his cheeks, his ears deafened by the sudden dawn of silence in the room.

"Hey." Shigeru's voice was soft, even somehow comforting as he gazed upon the brunet. A tone that the teen himself wasn't aware that he had.

Kazuma raised his eyes and met with amethyst ones, and they stared at each other for long seconds until…

"Thank you." Two simple words. Two quiet words that escaped the fair teen's lips. And yet, they seemed to be the only words that were needed at this moment.

A loose smile came upon the brunet's lips, his honey-gold orbs shone with delight as his cat ears perked up. "Not really… Actually, I should thank _you_, Kanmuri-san…" he replied.

"What for?" Shigeru asked quite confused.

"… I don't really know… Just… thank you, as well…" Kazuma replied, ending in a small laugh. His eyes happily shut tight as he smiled widely, both his hands taking hold of his ankles as he tilted his head to the side, the light dusting of red complimenting his tanned cheeks.

All his life, Shigeru never believed in God, in His angels, not even in Hell… But in that moment, the fair-skinned teen thought that maybe… just maybe… angels did exist…

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

**A/N:** wow… it's eleven-thirty in the evening… yeah…


	6. Rule 6

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

"Matsushiro-sensei, here's our project…" Kazuma happily declared as he presented the thirty-page report to the afro-haired teacher, his cat tail swishing behind him as his honey-gold orbs looked up at his rather tall teacher.

It was a fine Monday morning, and Kazuma had gotten up much, much earlier than usual since there really was a reason for him to rejoice. Finally, after almost a month of waiting, he and his partner had finished their project!!

The over-muscular teacher, on the other hand, lowered his dark sunglasses as though to affirm that what he was seeing was right. For right before him, the senior's candidate for Valedictorian was jovially handing him the project, accompanied by his least favorite student in the world.

True enough, Kanmuri Shigeru was there, standing just behind Kazuma, his hands deep within the pockets of his pants and looking uncaring as per usual.

"Are you certain that the bastard had helped, Azuma-kun? You wouldn't want him to take credit for what you've done all by yourself now would you?" Matsushiro asked, not easily buying the possibility that the pink-haired menace had somehow managed to be 'sociable' enough to help with a dual project.

"Of course, sensei!" Kazuma affirmed, his tone indicating that he was much surprised that their teacher didn't trust their work… or his words, for that matter. "Kanmuri-san has been a lot of help…"

"Hmph. Fine, then…" the afro-man muttered as he finally took the project from the tanned teen's hands. "You may leave…"

"Thank you, sensei." Kazuma bowed as the Social Studies teacher retreated into the teacher's lounge…

"See, that wasn't so bad, now, was it?" the brunet added as he faced his project partner, his cat ears happily perked up with a smile upon his face.

"Yeah… it went great…" Shigeru's voice was dripping with sarcasm as he proceeded to walk away. "You should've seen how _happy_ he was to hear that I helped… Get real, would you?"

"What do you mean?" Kazuma asked, keeping up with the other's paces.

"Don't you get it? He doesn't trust me… Nobody does…" Shigeru explained, heading up the stairs towards their classroom. "You saw him question… He doesn't want to believe that I did anything…"

"Well, we both know that you helped…" Kazuma said, trying to cheer up his companion.

"Yeah, and what a great thing that is…" Shigeru replied with a roll of his eyes.

"Kanmuri-san…" Kazuma said, grabbing the fair teen's wrist, making the both of them stop in the landing between the first and second floor, his honey-gold orbs staring directly into amethyst ones. "Stop being such a pessimist, alright?"

Shigeru just stared at the tanned teen for a minute… Feeling quite conscious that he and the brunet were just steps away from each other and the latter's grip on his wrist being quite firm, plus the fact that it was only the two of them occupying the particular staircase.

On the other hand, Kazuma continued to offer the teen his smile, determined not to let go until that smile returned. It was still early morning, and yet he could feel the air go thick and humid… but the brunet paid no heed, his focus was centered on nothing but Shigeru at the moment, and in some unexplainable way, Kazuma felt happy… barely even noticing when the tips of his fingertips gently slid into the fair teen's palm.

Amethyst orbs widened in the slightest upon the increased contact, foreign sensations making themselves known to the teen… He could feel his skin burn, following the path that the tanned teen's fingertips made on his hand. "I…" his mouth opened, but nothing more than that single word came out… The pale teen couldn't find it in him to look away; it was as though something about the brunet kept him glued in place… And the fact that Kazuma's eyes were looking at him with so much hope and the megawatt smile projected by the teen only served to fluster him even more…

"Alright?" Kazuma repeated, shifting the slightest bit closer towards his partner for reasons unknown even to himself. He could almost see the shadow of a smile on the pink-haired teen's lips… Why was he obsessing on seeing the teen smile? He didn't know… but he did know that he felt some sort of unexplainable euphoria whenever he got a reaction out of the teen.

"A-"

But just as Shigeru was about to finally agree, the sound of oncoming footsteps reached his ears. The amethyst-eyed teen quickly looked to his side to find a brown-haired figure walking up the flight of stairs. Realizing what was to come, the teen promptly withdrew his hand from Kazuma's grasp and hastily went up the stairs, leaving the brunet in a state of confusion.

Kazuma felt his confidence deflate as his partner left him without an explanation. What did he do? Was it something he said? Was he pushing himself too much? Had he offended the teen in some way?

"Azuma-kun?"

The sudden call of his name made the tanned teen turn about in complete surprise… He definitely hadn't heard anyone coming; he was too focused on Kanmuri… Hm… Were his cheeks usually this hot? The brunet could feel them burning, although he still wasn't sure why…

"Azuma-kun!!" the voice repeated, a bit more forcefully.

At that, Kazuma's head snapped up, meeting penetrating apple green orbs staring at him incredulously. "Oh, hi, Tsukino…" the tanned teen replied sheepishly, his eyes widening when he saw the girl holding up his olive green backpack. "Uhm… what are you doing with my bag?"

"Oh, I just happened to walk up the stairs when I saw you standing there looking up ahead with your backpack lying at your feet…" Tsukino explained as she handed the bag back to its owner.

"A-Ah… right… Sorry about that…" Kazuma replied, slipping an arm through one of the straps; holding his bag in place. Really, he was not even aware of putting his backpack down… how it got down from his shoulder unnoticed was a huge mystery to him… "So, um, what are you doing here so early?" he asked, trying to start up a conversation; his cat ears perking up, deciding that he shouldn't ruin his day by thinking so much this early.

Tsukino was not dumb… she knew something was wrong with Kazuma… or at least, something was different about her friend. She wasn't going to be easily fooled. "I'm always here early, Azuma-kun," the light-brown haired teen said knowingly. "What are _you_ doing here this early?"

"Well, I came early 'coz Kanmuri-san and I submitted our project to Matsushiro-sensei…" Kazuma replied just as they finally reached their floor.

"Kanmuri-san?" Tsukino actually sounded shocked at that, earning her a confused look from her tanned friend.

"Yeah, why?" Kazuma asked as though his previous statement was the most common thing in the world.

"Oh, nothing… it's just- Oh, hi Kanmuri-san…" Tsukino's words were completely altered when their classroom door slid into the wall as she faced it, revealing the very topic of her conversation with Kazuma.

Kazuma's attention was instantly diverted to the pink-haired teen upon hearing Tsukino mention his name; and the first thing he noticed was that the teen had his I-don't-give-a-damn look again… Fearing that he _had_ made the teen angry, the brunet tired to apologize, "He-"

But before the tanned student could even get a word out of his mouth, Shigeru promptly walked out of the room, briskly walking past the two without bothering to look back. Needless to say, Kazuma was struck dumb at what had just transpired… Was Shigeru really that mad at him? The brunet would've probably stayed at his spot outside the door if it wasn't for Tsukino who tugged at his sleeve, dragging him towards their seats, muttering something about 'antisocial gits'.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

"See you, Tsukino!" Kazuma said as he watched his friend get into the taxi. It was their normal routine: he and Tsukino would walk together after school until they reach this street where Tsukino would ride a taxi home while he'd wait for another taxi to ride home, or on special cases he'd just continue to trek his way towards his condo unit. Tsukino gave a smile and waved goodbye as the taxi sped off, leaving the tanned brunet on the street corner.

After standing at his spot for half a minute more, Kazuma gave out a small sigh as he started to walk towards Amestris Towers. Half his mind was focused on the road, while the other was thinking about today's class… more particularly, on how Shigeru had been acting all day. He hadn't said anything offensive, had he? So why was the fair teen ignoring him like that? It was like he didn't even exist! The teen would barely look at him, nor even say anything to him! He didn't like feeling as though he'd offended anyone… he didn't want to have any enemies… WHY does that teen have to always be so complicated?!

Kazuma stopped. He let out another sigh to calm himself. His cat ears were cast down, and his tail was limply trailing behind him. Why was he getting all stressed-out about this?

Just then, the sound of an approaching vehicle made itself known to the brunet, who didn't think of it any further until the sound stopped just beside him. Turning to look at his right, Kazuma could hardly contain his confusion when his caramel eyes met with a familiar motorbike, and a uniform-clad rider.

The engine stopped as the driver carefully removed his helmet, whose designs matched that of his fiery red motorbike. Amethyst orbs shone from beneath a frame of cherry blossom pink hair as they descended upon the surprised brunet at the sidewalk. "Surely you're not thinking of walking all the way to your condo?" asked the teen with a smirk gracing his lips.

Kazuma blinked, comprehension was rather slow for him at this particular moment… All day Shigeru ignored him, and now… What is happening to the world?! The brunet couldn't quite explain the sudden annoyance that was bubbling up inside him… He crossed his arms, his cat ears perked up, as his face set into the closest thing to irritation that he can put up; his whole aura screaming that he was demanding for an explanation.

Shigeru seemed to get his point; he seemed to be expecting it actually, as a wry smile replaced the smirk on his lips. "Are you mad?" he began.

"Yeah…" Kazuma replied readily. "Care to explain why you've been avoiding me like a plague all day?"

"You can't really be expecting me to be all-friendly with you in front of the whole school population all of a sudden right?" Shigeru replied quizzically.

"But you didn't have to treat me like I was invisible! Besides, you were rude to Tsukino this morning… and that was for no reason at all."

"The 'reason' is that it's already what they expect me to do… They've already classified me into the 'loner' section, so technically, that's what I'm _supposed_ to do…"

"But that isn't you, Kanmuri-san…" Kazuma's gaze flickered downwards; he could almost feel the hurt that the other was probably experiencing.

"I know…" Shigeru replied in a low voice that he even doubted if Kazuma heard it.

"So you'll be ignoring me again tomorrow?" Kazuma asked as casually as he could, shoving his hands into his pant pockets.

"I don't like doing it but I have to… My 'reputation' is screwed up as it is… I don't want to drag you down… "

"I don't care… Kanmuri-san's my friend… Friends don't just ignore each other…" the firm tone in the tanned one's voice managed to pull a grin on the other's lips.

"Friend, huh?" A perfect brow arched, rising well into the teen's pink fringe of hair.

"A-Aren't… D-Don't you want to be friends…?"

Kazuma actually looked scared at the prospect that just escaped his lips. His caramel orbs were staring at the sidewalk floor, the fisted form of his hands evident from within his pockets.

Shigeru could never remember when he last felt afraid… He'd always thought that he'd already conquered his fears a long time ago but… the wave of anxiousness that was spreading through him at the moment… there was nothing else to label it… it was simply… fear. What was he afraid of? There was nothing for him to be afraid of… That was what the pink-haired teen thought until his sharp amethyst eyes caught sight of a single tear rolling down the tan cheeks of the brunet before him.

There was no reason for him to cry, Kazuma very well knew that fact… so when his eyes just blurred up and this unexplainable (and invisible) weight fell onto his chest the teen fell into utter confusion… He'd never been afraid of crying… but that was just because he always knew his reasons for doing so… However, at this moment, Kazuma had absolutely no idea why tears just decided to fall from his eyes… A push from behind and the tearful brunet found himself leaning forward and meeting with the stiff clothing that was the Ouran Academy uniform… caramel eyes shot wide open when he realized that he was currently pushed up against Kanmuri… When did they become so close?!

"I never said that I didn't want to be your friend…"

Shigeru's voice was low and despite the heavy sounds of traffic behind them, every word was clear to the brunet. Moreover, the pink-haired teen's breath was dangerously close to Kazuma's ear, the warm air from the other's lips brushing against the outer shell of his ear along with a few strands of his russet hair, making the tanned teen shiver in the slightest.

The amethyst-eyed teen could hardly believe that he himself was doing this… Holding Kazuma close to him in a one-armed hug in the middle of the pavement (his other hand still grasping his safety helmet)… His chin resting atop the brunet's head just between the currently flattened cat ears… Really, has the world gone mad? He felt the brunet shift closer to him, along with a few more movements signaling that his classmate was most likely wiping away his tears… And then, everything was still…

"…aren't you mad that… that I'm going all melodramatic on you, Kanmuri-san?" Kazuma dared to ask, his cheek passively resting against the other's chest.

"Nah… I guess it was my fault anyway…" Shigeru was surprised at how his words came out… Apologizing was never really his thing and yet everything seemed to go naturally when he spoke.

More silence passed… That was, until Kazuma decided to break the silence once again…

"Um… Kanmuri-san?"

A small 'hm' was all Kazuma got for a reply… Seeing as his pink-haired companion was currently in his own little train of thought, taking in deep breaths and greatly wondering since when the Tokyo air became ever so addicting…

"…People are kind of… staring at us…" Kazuma continued… desperately fighting the warmth in his cheeks as he felt the other take in a deep breath…

Hearing that Shigeru's eyes snapped open, automatically set in a glare as his amethyst orbs met with the sight of quite a few passers-by standing still and looking in their direction. However, upon meeting his glare, the people immediately ceased their staring and hastily walked away… Inwardly, the pink-haired teen was ranting at himself; _'What the fuck was that, Kanmuri?'_

"Um… it's kinda getting dark now, Kanmuri-san…" Kazuma pointed out once his classmate finally let go of him, his cat ears lying backwards on flat on his skull… possibly an effect of the fact that he was just stared at by about a dozen of people in the middle of the sidewalk.

"Well it's your fault anyway for having a fuss over such a small thing…" Shigeru bantered, a smirk playing on his lips once more.

"Catch!"

Kazuma barely had time to react when he saw the other teen's red helmet flying towards him… Catching the object and holding it protectively against his chest, Kazuma's face showed none but confusion, cocking his head to the side and staring pointedly at the helmet's owner who was now sitting on his motorbike once more, starting up the engine.

"What…"

"Wear it and get on…" Shigeru commanded, looking up at the brunet.

"Wha-But-What?!" Kazuma sputtered in his words… Was Kanmuri seriously going to do what he thinks _he's_ going to do?

Kanmuri just raised an eyebrow at him. The look about him plainly saying, 'What-the-fuck's-taking-you-so-damned-long-just-putting-on-a-darned-helmet?'.

Deciding that he'd just along with it anyway, Kazuma secured the helmet on his head and took his seat behind Shigeru on the motorbike, placing his hands on each of the driver's shoulders just to make sure that he won't fall off.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

_The next day…_

"Good morning, everyone! Good morning, Kanmuri-san!"

All the occupants of Room 4-1 stopped dead in their tracks… it wasn't like the class president's early morning greeting was unusual… it was more due to the words that followed it. The previous loud chatter of the girls went into dead silence. Even the boys who were previously huddled up over a PSP looked up with 'what-the-fuck?' expressions on their faces. All of their eyes trailed to follow the cause of this sudden upheaval…

Said cause seemed not to notice the commotion that he'd just begun. Going to his designated seat and placing his backpack on the floor before him, still oblivious to everyone else around him until he saw his seatmate's face… "Tsukino, is anything wrong?"

The girl's jaw seemed to have unhinged itself from its proper position. "I…" Now, Tsukino was really confused… as was the rest of the class…

However, if their attention was not solely focused on the brunet, they might've caught a glimpse of the smirk that passed the newcomer's lips for a fraction of a second before the pale teen resumed his emotionless façade.

"Tsukino, I told you: I'm fine! I'm not sick or anything… What even makes you think that?" Kazuma asked in a tone of disbelief, playfully swatting away his best friend's hand from his forehead. With that, everyone else just shrugged off and resumed their previous actions, thinking that they might have just been hearing things.

Tsukino narrowed her eyes, her cat ears, which were a lighter shade of brown, stuck up from her head, her range of vision going past her friend towards a certain enigma at the back of the room. An unsettling feeling washing over her… something wasn't right… it was either that or her dear best friend just forgot to mention a couple of things to her. Hmm…

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

**A/N: **If you're still alive and reading this: yeah… I won't even make excuses this time… To put it plainly, Zannen's Chapter 5 was the last of my pre-written chapters for this fic… so just expect that my updates to go a wee bit slower now…


	7. Rule 7

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

_Sometime during the last week of November…_

The bell rang signaling the end of the morning classes and the start of their hour-long lunch break.

"… Ah well, that's that…" A silver-haired man said as the bell stopped ringing. The lean figure then picked up a piece of chalk, and wrote in his long and thin handwriting the class' assignment on the blackboard. Dusting off his hands, the sapphire-eyed man adjusted his rectangular glasses and clasped his hands together, smiling genially. "Alright… That will be all for today, class. I will be expecting your reports by Friday. You are dismissed."

A few students groaned with the additional work set upon them. However, the whole class stood up altogether, ready to take their break; a few of the students stretching out their muscles after about two hours of just sitting down, listening and taking down notes, with Professor Asplund discussing the topic of quantum mechanics.

Out of habit, Kazuma gathered his all his books that were used in the morning, patiently waiting for Tsukino to fix her things before the two of them went out of the classroom. They passed by their lockers (which was on the ground floor of their building), depositing the textbooks that didn't have any assigned homework for them and continued to head out to the cafeteria, which was located in the back building.

The back building, as the name states is located behind the Suzaku/Southern Building, serving like a border between the intellectual area (main buildings; classrooms) and the athletic area (swimming pool; soccer field) of the school. The building was only two floors high, however, it was still wide enough to house two cafeterias (one on each floor) and a moderately sized café on the ground floor. The second floor was only half-occupied by the cafeteria, the other half was a wide-open veranda where you would be able to see the well-cultivated gardens that surrounded the school.

After buying their lunches at the second floor cafeteria, Tsukino and Kazuma headed out to the veranda, taking their usual seats on one of the tables near the balustrade. It was a windy day near the end of November, such that even the ever-present heat from the sun was not much of a bother to the students sitting out, enjoying their one-hour break from lessons.

Kazuma placed his tray of food on the table as he sat down, not wasting a second before he indulged in the cafeteria special for the day, which happened to be lasagna with garlic bread on the side. His can of cola was spared for the moment.

Tsukino smiled at her companion's usual eating routine before partaking in her own food: a bento box that had a bowl of rice, pork teriyaki and coleslaw, accompanied with her favorite red iced tea.

Having been taught ages ago that speaking with their mouths full was a big no-no, the two best friends finished their lunches quickly, allowing them more time to talk… It was perfect, in Tsukino's opinion, now she would have more time to question her seemingly 'changed' friend. Now, how to start a conversation…

Downing the last of his cola, a couple of minutes later, Kazuma breathed out a huge sigh, his caramel eyes looking up to the eternally blue sky above him, dotted here and there with a few puffy white clouds, but he found it serene none the less…

"Ne, Azuma…" Tsukino began, doing her best to appear inconspicuous.

"Yeah?" the tanned teen replied, stretching out his arms, his smile growing wider as he felt a cool breeze blow past him.

"I just noticed… something's… different… with Kanmuri-san these days…" Tsukino said, easing out her words bit by bit, as to give the pretense that it was nothing more than mild curiosity. The brunette's cat ears were flexed back, her apple green irises looking at nothing in particular.

"Kanmuri-san? Different? How?" Kazuma asked tilting his head to his right, suddenly curious.

"Oh, I don't know…" Tsukino replied, choosing her words carefully, supporting her head with one hand as she faced the gardens outside, keeping a close watch on Kazuma from the corner of her eyes.

"Tsukinoooo…" Kazuma whined, his curiosity growing ever more so.

"Why are you so concerned anyway, Azuma?" Tsukino finally asked turning to face Kazuma head-on whilst still keeping her façade of light curiosity.

"Me?" Kazuma blinked, cat ears perking up in mild surprise.

"Yeah…" Tsukino reaffirmed. Finally, she could get straight to her point… "I mean, sure you wanted to help him adapt but for goodness' sake, Azuma… We're already in our second quarter… Surely, he'd been able to 'settle in' by now…"

To the fair teen's surprise, Kazuma let out a deep sigh.

"…Tsukino…" the tanned brunet started, "…I just… I dunno, intrigued by him…He's just different, you know…"

Tsukino couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at her best friend's words, but she said nothing, wanting to hear more… she still wasn't satisfied with the brunet's answer and she knew that Kazuma knew it himself.

"Ne, Tsukino, you've told me before that you liked Haruka-sensei, didn't you?" Kazuma spoke softly, his eyes focused on his hands clasped around each other on top of the table; russet-hued cat ears shyly folded atop his mop of somewhat unruly brown hair.

A red dusting immediately colored Tsukino's cheeks when Kazuma made mention of the school's resident dark-haired icon… really, half of the student body (the female population at least, she wasn't sure about the male side) seemed to like the enigmatic adult(1)… Tsukino had liked him, too, back when they were sophomores, when he became their teacher and despite it being so long ago since she thought of him, the brunette still can't help the blush that made its way on her cheeks at the mere mention of the teacher's name.

"U-Uh, yeah… W-What about it…" Tsukino queried, trying her best not to sound flustered but failing greatly in her attempts.

"…I…" Kazuma's caramel eyes flickered upwards to meet Tsukino's inquisitive gaze for a moment before resuming his staring contest with his hands. "…Nah… It's nothing…" the tanned teen finally said after a few seconds of having an internal debate with himself.

"Azuma-" the light-haired brunette was about to speak out her thoughts but an approaching figure made her hold her tongue.

"Azusagawa-san, Azuma-san… I thought I might find you here…"

Both students looked up to meet with lively ruby red eyes. A man with short silver-gray hair, porcelain complexion and a rather petite frame for his age (not to mention gender!) stood before the two, donning a cream-hued long-sleeved shirt and dark slacks with a black unbuttoned blazer hanging around his shoulders.

"Ichinomiya-sensei!"

The two best friends immediately stood up in greeting, showing the ruby-eyed man his well-earned respect. Truly, Ichinomiya Kantarou was a well-known figure in the Academy… He was kind, funny and he has this charisma making it almost impossible for anyone to hate him… That and the fact that even at the age of 25, he still looks like an 18 year-old; although his lack of cat ears had always been a topic of debate for many.

"Saa… Don't be so formal…" Kantarou said, waving off the two, motioning for his students to sit back down. "May I?" he then asks, indicating the empty chair between the two.

"Of course, sensei!" Kazuma eagerly replied. He had always liked his History teacher.

"Thank you. Now, I'd like to discuss a certain topic with you, Azuma-san… Of course, Azusagawa-san is very much welcome to the information that I am to disclose…" The silver-haired man said with a smile set upon his lips.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

"… Wait, wait, wait! Let me get this straight…" An eyebrow was perfectly arched as amethyst orbs looked rather disbelievingly at the person before him. "You want _me_ to help _you_ review for a contest?"

Kazuma nodded excitedly, a megawatt grin on his face. Classes had just ended for the day and the two of them were currently at the brunet's condo unit. It had been quite a routine for the two anyway… Kazuma would walk with Tsukino up to their usual street corner, wait for the brunette to ride a taxi home and then Shigeru would come by and drive both of them back to Kazuma's condominium unit… It was more or less a mutual agreement between the two teens… More often than not, the pink-haired teen was invited to dinner and it was rare that he declined… And tonight was just another one of those nights…

The two Senior students were across each other at Kazuma's kitchen table, their uniform's blue blazers hung at the back of their respective chairs with Kazuma having put on his checkered apron as he prepared their meal… The tanned teen had no qualms at all with cooking food for the two of them; it was a great change from when he used to cook for only himself…

"So what do you say to it, hmm?" Kazuma repeated his previous query.

"Why me?" Shigeru asked flatly.

"Why not?" the tanned teen returned, an unusual glint appearing in his eyes. Kazuma knew he had a point, and he had solid evidence to back it all up… After all, it's not every single year that a newcomer makes it into the top ten of the class… not to mention of the whole year level… True, for their first quarter, the amethyst-eyed newbie was able to snag the position of rank 7 for the whole Senior level. The pink-haired teen's achievement was met with all kinds of reaction, most of which was akin to total disbelief but, as their homeroom teacher Hakkai had happily explained it, Shigeru had high academic markings, having no grade below the mark of B… The only thing that pulled him down was his conduct, and, boy, was it low… But even so… it was still a notably exceptional achievement.

And so, with his elevated class ranking, the transferee was suddenly known and popular to the whole school… He was an instant celebrity, per se; his lack of cat ears suddenly becoming the last thing on everyone's mind. Truth be told, Shigeru much preferred the indifferent treatment rather than having about three or five girls now following him everywhere he went… But Kazuma tended not to dwell too much on that last statement, it simply made him feel weird.

Shigeru sighed, that alone brought Kazuma out of his musings… A sigh from his companion often meant that he was thinking things over… Kazuma kept up the hopeful expression on his face, wide honey-gold eyes and an encouraging smile on his lips.

Turning away from the teen for a moment, Kazuma checked on the fish fillet that he was cooking on his stove, to see if the viand was ready yet. Thankfully, it was and the brunet went on to put the newly cooked food on a plate, taking care to remove all excess oil from the food before he took it to the table, which Shigeru had set up earlier on.

"So, how about it Kanmuri-san?" Kazuma asked again as he set down the platter of fish fillet on the table, taking off his apron before sitting himself down on the chair opposite his guest.

"I ask you again, why?" Shigeru answered, his arms crossed and a dead serious expression on his face. "We both know you do well enough on almost all the subjects, so why do you still wanna ask for _my_ help?"

"Be_cause­_, Ichinomiya-sensei told me that the contest isn't just within the school." Kazuma iterated. "I'm gonna be competing against people from different places all over Japan… I don't wanna bring shame to our school if I lose… or even if I get a low score… So won't 'ya help me study?" By the end of his statement, Kazuma put on his best kicked-puppy look.

Seeing the brunet, Shigeru only closed his eyes and shook his head. Once he opened his eyes again, Kazuma was still looking at him expectantly. Shigeru sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his right hand. "When do you plan to begin reviewing?"

"Waahhh!! Thank you, Kanmuri-san!" Kazuma exclaimed, putting up a huge smile of appreciation on his face.

"Whatever."

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

_Later…_

After finishing dinner, he and Kazuma went on to doing their homework. And with his homework finished, Shigeru took his cue to leave.

Shigeru adjusted his helmet on his head, starting up the engine of his motorbike before he exited the parking lot; going at 80 mph, heading towards his home. It was already around 8:30 pm and there were still quite a lot of cars out on the street, however, the pink-haired teen didn't mind these much as he swerved his way through them, wanting to go home at get some sleep as soon as possible.

Shigeru's mind was too focused in going home that he wasn't able to notice a pair of deep violet eyes watching him… or rather, keeping watch on his motorbike as he sped away.

A wide smirk came upon the watcher's pale skin, a cellphone was produced and long fingertips pressed on the number two; speed dial automatically dialing up a number.

After two rings, the other line picked up.

"Yo. Whaddaya want?" a gruff voice said from the receiving line.

"Tsk, tsk. Always the grouchy one, aren't ya?" the caller drawled in a mocking tone.

"Cut the crap, jackass. I ain't got all night!" the other replied, the voice quickly going from annoyed to utmost irritation.

"Hm. Fine." The caller continued. "Well, I got news for ya…"

"What?" Still getting more impatient.

"I found him." The speaker's voice was drawn to a purr, a hint of malice lacing it.

"…" The information was processed, and a devilish smirk came upon bronze lips, exposing what appeared to be razor-like teeth. 'Good.' was the only reply before the call was ended.

A calloused hand ran through spiked up raven-black hair. Dark eyes flashed with hatred as the smirk only widened. "About time that I return the favor…" the rough voice echoed in the small bedroom. A leather-clad figure walked across the dark room, towards a wall where a tattered image was pinned. There were slashes across the picture, some made by hand, though most were made from being run through with knives or razors. But despite the worn-out state of the photo, the defining feature of the person within was still distinguishable.

Sharp amethyst eyes glared from within the picture, unwavering and defiant.

"It's been a long time, hasn't it?" the gruff voice sneered when the picture was no less than a 3 inches away.

In a quick motion, the picture was ripped in two, one-half falling miserably onto the shadowed floor. The photo was torn right in the middle, the same calloused hand that did all the other mutilations held the knife that caused it.

"This will be fun… Kanmuri Shigeru." The name was said with much distaste, as the rest of the photo was shredded mercilessly.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

(1) Technically, when one has already shed his/her ears, they are referred to as 'adults' in the Loveless manga…

Additional Characters:

Lloyd Asplund – Physics teacher (Code Geass) –squeal-

Ichinomiya Kantarou – History teacher (Tactics) –double squeal-

Haruka – uhh, he's supposed to be a teacher but I haven't decided on what subject yet… He was just mentioned anyways… (Tactics… again! Haha!)

**A/N:** No. I do not have a fascination with tall, 'anorexic-type' lean and childish silver-haired bishounen anime guys with large expressive eyes. I said NO!! –pout-

-ties blindfold- okay, I'm ready, who wants to go at me with the pitchfork first? Damn that ending was suckish…


	8. Rule 8

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

Kazuma paced around his living room, apprehension building up within him with every step he took. Looking at his wristwatch, he noted that it was already 9:30 in the evening… The creases on his already worried face increased in number as his vision gazed outside the room-tall windows which gave him a rather impressive sight of the nighttime city; bright patches of multi-colored lights shining against the dark backdrop which was the sky. But somehow, Kazuma couldn't bring himself to appreciate the view… not when his supposed tutor was alleged to have knocked on his door precisely _two_ hours earlier…

"Argh… Where could he be?!" Kazuma asked no one in particular, resuming his pacing around the room, his tail swishing behind him in anxiety.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

'Damn it!' Shigeru cursed in his mind as he felt someone kick him in the guts once again. His lithe body was doubled-up in pain, coughing up a bit more blood as another kick hit him on the face sending him skidding along the grimy floor of a dark alley. Weak arms tried to push him up from the ragged flooring but before he could even raise himself an inch, a rough hand yanked him up, clutching a handful of soiled cherry-blossom pink hair.

"Arghh!" the cry of pain was inevitable as the amethyst-eyed teen's aching body was shoved against a hard brick wall of the adjoining building.

"Doesn't this feel nice, hm, Kanmuri-kun?" a gruff voice spoke in the darkness, malicious intent loud and clear in his tone.

Trying to calm his breathing, Shigeru opened his eyes, which he wasn't even aware of closing, and shot a loathing look at the perpetrator; his eyes slanting ever more as he recognized the man before him.

Bronze skin; spiked-up raven-black hair; muscular body clothed with leather; a devilish grin exposing sharp-edged teeth; eyes that were dark as the night, shining with an insatiable hunger for vengeance… Damn. He should've expected this…

"What's with that dirty look?" the bronze-skinned man asked, the smirk on his lips widening as he surveyed the damage that he'd done to the other. "You think you've already suffered enough, asshole? Had enough? Well think again!!" the man spat, pulling harder on the younger one's hair. "This is **nothing** compared to the shit you had me through and I ain't gonna stop until you're down to nothing… nothing, asshole! NOTHING-!"

The smirk was suddenly wiped off from the muscular man's mouth, a look of disgust settling on his well-chiseled face as a brash grin appeared on his 'prey's features.

"This all you've got, shit-for-brains?" Shigeru said, wiping off the trickle of blood down the corner of his lips with the back of his right hand; swiftly maneuvering his feet, the pale teen shot a well-aimed kick at his attacker's stomach, making the taller man loosen the grip on his hair.

The brazen man took a couple of steps back, a ready-to-kill-expression on his face as a calloused hand wiped a combination of spit and blood from his left cheek. The bastard actually had guts to spit on him!! Oh, he was going to make the brat pay for what he did…

"Why you little piece of shit!" the taller man snarled, charging forward.

"Why, thank you." Shigeru retorted, sarcasm dripping like venom from his words. Avoiding the man's punch, the pink-haired teen returned a kick, ignoring the aching protest of his insides… He had to admit, the guy had obviously been working out more, he didn't remember getting hurt as much the last time. The smirk widened on his lips as he recalled the last time he'd seen the devilish man. "Last time wasn't enough for you, was it… _Greed_?" Shigeru jeered, sweeping low to avoid another punch, causing the taller man to miss him and hit the wall behind him instead.

"How dare you-" the leather-clad man, Greed, began as he shifted into position, ready to strike.

"How dare _I_? Look, jackass, you're the one who picked a fight with me." Shigeru pointed out crudely, wiping off the trickle of blood from his hands. "Unlike your sorry ass over there, I happen to have important matters to attend to…"

"You know I could never pass up a chance to beat up the revolting thing you call your face…" Greed retorted cracking his knuckles as if to show that he was ready to continue the fight. "And I can do this all night long…"

"Tsch…" Shigeru frowned… He was already late as it was to help Kazuma in reviewing, then he just happens to meet one of his least favorite people in the world… 'Damn it all…' He hadn't even gotten a chance to explain anything to Kazuma. It'll be a miracle if the brunet would even look his way again…

The pink-haired teen was so deep in his thoughts that he didn't notice the muscled Greed charging towards him; causing the poor teen to collide unceremoniously with a couple of dustbins sitting along the wall of the alleyway. Rotting trash spilt all around… a nauseating smell adding to the smell of blood that made its way to Shigeru. The amethyst-eyed teen felt his head spin, bashing into metal bins was seriously on his list of 'things to avoid', securely on the spot right next to the name of his perpetrator. All air was knocked out of his lungs when a steel-toed boot harshly stepped down on his chest, his eyes shutting tight as the throbbing in his head became even more evident.

"You should've known better than to have messed with me in the first place…" Greed growled as he pressed his foot even deeper onto the younger one's abdomen. "… The humiliation… you've never known… when you trashed me that day… I'll never forget that, Kanmuri Shigeru… Guess being an asshole really is an incurable disease, heh…"

At that Shigeru's eyes opened in the slightest, a loathing glare burning in his eyes, "Just shut the fu-"

The teen was cut short as a swift kick at his face sent him across the grubby floor.

"Shut up!" Greed roared. "I'm tired to listening to your yapping… An' I'm tired of seeing your fucked up face!! I think it's time for me to give you my token of appreciation… Oi, Envy!" the leather clad man called out, eyes darting farther into the darkness of the alley.

From the shadows emerged a pale figure, leather-based clothes barely hiding any of the man's lithe muscles, long strands of dark green hair exquisitely framing the man's smirking face. "So you finally got tired of play time, huh, Greed…" a drawling voice passed through the supple lips, sounding like a fusion between male and female. The seemingly androgynous individual then continued in a rather cynical tone, "Took you long enough…"

"Yeah, yeah…" Greed waved off the insults, seemingly used to them; his razor-sharp teeth exposed, as his grin grew wider as he watched his comrade survey his work.

"Very thorough, Greed…" Envy burred, using his foot to move Shigeru's head from one side to another, as though taking a better look at the latter's bruised face, noting how quickly the boy's chest heaved and the battered look that he carried with him now, compared with the prim and proper version of him that they had less than an hour ago…

"If you think that's good, wait 'til I finish with him…" Greed continued, reaching into an inside pocket of the vest he wore, his smirk growing ever wider as he did so.

A deep green eyebrow arched, as cat-like amethyst eyes witnessed the revealing of a sharp-looking knife, and Envy purred for he knew that the best part was just rolling in…

'Shit' was the only thing in Shigeru's mind as, even from his position on the floor, he saw light reflecting on a smooth alloy, knowing that it could be none other than Greed's favorite toy…

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

"Oi, Azuma! No running in the halls!"

The familiar voice and call made the hurrying brunet to halt in his steps, turning his head to a side to see the man who had called to him, cat ears perking up.

Golden eyes from beneath rectangular frames looked at him warmly but with sternness lacing its edges. A tall man in a royal blue uniform calmly walked down the carpeted stairway towards him, placing a white-gloved hand on his shoulder. "What's with the hurry?"

"Hughes-san!" Kazuma replied in a bit of alarm. "I… I was just on my way out…"

"And why do you look so worried?" the raven-haired man suddenly snapped his fingers as though he had reached a conclusion. "Oh I know what'd cheer you up! Lemme just show you the latest pictures of my Elysia-chan!!" The taller made a gesture of reaching into his coat pockets but Kazuma hastily replied.

"Errr, that won't be necessary, Hughes-san… and I really must go…" the tanned teen reasoned, moving a few more steps down. "I'll just see you later then, bye!"

Gloved hands raked through spiked up raven-black locks with a frown was set on the man's lips as he watched Kazuma speed down the staircase… If he isn't mistaken, he was currently patrolling the tenth floor of the condominium… wasn't the brunet's unit up at the 19th floor? Something was off, and hell, he wasn't designated as the Amestris Towers' Chief of police for nothing!

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

Kazuma drank gulps of air as he continued his run, taking the stairs two at a time… Why was he in such a hurry? He didn't know either… Just a few minutes ago he was pacing his living room, waiting for any sign of his classmate's arrival and suddenly his anxiety turned to agitation…

Usually Shigeru would call him if he was going to be late, but neither his home phone nor his cellphone received one… Damn… And if he wasn't finding it hard enough to breathe with all the running he had done, his heartbeats just _had_ to quicken their pace… And if he would ever find Shigeru out there, Kazuma swore that he's gonna make him pay dearly for all the worry he'd caused…

Catching his breath, the brunet pushed open the great glass doors of Amestris Towers, the cool night air caressing his sweat-laced face. Kazuma gingerly wiped off the sweat from his face using the sleeve of his jacket, at the same time pondering where on earth his supposed tutor could be… A tanned hand got his cellphone from his pants' pocket, quickly dialing Shigeru's number. As he put the phone against his ear, Kazuma mentally cursed, he should've done this _before_ he got down!! Well, nothing to do about it now…

'The number you dialed cannot be reached. Please try your call later.' The cool voice of a woman stated from his cellphone and Kazuma crossly ended the call, his cat ears and tail flexing back and forth in vexation.

'Stupid Kanmuri.' The tanned teen thought as he activated his cellphone's GPS…

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

Greed stepped back to admire his handiwork… Bloody beautiful…

Shigeru's breath came out in gasps, he was curled up but that didn't ease the pain… His arms and legs felt like they were on fire, and it wasn't the 'good' type of fire… He could feel the gashes oozing out blood from his appendages and it did not make him feel any better… 'Damn!' the teen thought bitterly, his fists clenching in spite.

"Heh, not so tough now, are ya?" the brazen man leered, swinging around his knife in one hand, droplets of crimson blood splattering about with each turn. "You know, you could've avoided this, you little bastard… Ah, it still makes my blood boil when I remember…"

The bloodied teen on the ground cracked an eye open just to glare up at his assailant. Like he needed to be reminded of that.

**-**_**Flashback**_**-**

_It had been two years ago… And he was pissed off more than usual, Tsutsumi just __**had**__ to butt in to everything he does! He didn't need to be told that he __**shouldn't**__ have beat up the butt-faced senior student… He was just giving the idiot what he deserved! The guy was the first to pick a fight, he just responded with what was needed. There was definitely nothing wrong with that!! He kicked at a random can on the sidewalk… Idiot._

'_Hey there kiddo… What's kid like you doing 'round this place?' a rough voice greeted him._

_Looking up, amethyst eyes fixed upon a sneering brazen face, a glare set on his face in reply, ready to curse the guy who dared to block his way into oblivion. 'I have no time for retards like you, so get the hell away from me,' the words were out of his mouth before he could even have second thoughts about it._

'_You little piece of sh-'_

_A foot already collided with the man's jaw, rendering him unable to finish his sentence. It was a swift turn, coupled with a forceful kick that sent the leather-clad man falling backwards, his companion behind him sidestepping to avoid being hit. Dark-hued amethyst eyes watched in amusement as his brazen-skinned companion hit the cemented pavement, some obviously angst-induced teen being the cause of said event. He leaned back against a lamppost, which was currently the only source of lighting around, a feral grin on his lips…_

_The fallen man growled, exposing his razor-like teeth, as he took up his stance, a murderous mien settling about him._

'_I told you not to fucking mess with me.' he had spat, glaring back at the other with equal intensity._

_The man charged at him and what happened next were nothing but blurs… Heavy rain began to fall then, and along with the loud thunder cracking up in the sky, he stared down at the leather-clad stranger… The man was breathing raggedly, scratches and gashes decorating his clothes and skin… He brought his shaking hand towards him, amethyst eyes widening as they stared back at his own reflection in the bloody knife… He looked back at the man on the ground… the bloodied man lying on the ground before him… Panic coursed through his veins… His grip on the knife slackened and the object fell on the ground with a soft 'clank'. He hadn't meant for things to go like this… He was just protecting himself… The knife… it belonged to the brazen man… it was either his life or the other's… there wasn't really a choice… Amethyst eyes darted on to the man's companion…_

_Deep purple orbs stared back at him… unreadable… He didn't understand… The lean man took a step forward… And instinct told him to run away… and run he did… Rain and mud splattered about him but it didn't matter… He needed to get away._

_**-End Flashback-**_

"And now… for the finishing touch…" Greed announced, gripping the knife's handle tightly and raising it high above his head.

A foreign sound then rang… it echoed all about the alleyway. It was a voice… a highly familiar voice. A small frown was on Envy's lips as Greed remained impassive. But neither of them could compare to Shigeru's expression of fright.

'No… it couldn't…' The single eye that Shigeru had opened was impossibly wide. Fear was wrenching his heart and it was seeping into his veins. His fingers were digging into his palm… he prayed to any god or deity that would listen, 'Don't let this happen…' Fatigue then came over the hard-pressed teen, and despite all his efforts to stay awake; he found his surroundings darkening bit by bit until there was nothing that he could see… All sense left him quicker than blood left his body.

'No…'

"Kanmuri-san?"

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

Additional Characters:

Maes Hughes - Amestris Towers' Chief of police (Fullmetal Alchemist)

Greed – some guy who has a grudge on Kanmuri (Fullmetal Alchemist)

Envy – Greed's companion (Fullmetal Alchemist)

**A/N:** …well… to make things clear, Greed isn't the guy who 'shed' Kanmuri's ears/tail, all right? Dear me… am I boring you guys?


	9. Rule 9

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

'So this is where you've been hiding, huh…' Kazuma thought bitterly as he stood at the street corner, closing his cellphone and pocketing it again. With his cellphone's GPS system, he was able to determine where his tutor was hiding all this time... The idiot. Keeping him waiting, and for what? Kazuma had a determined look on his face as he stormed towards the alley in between two buildings where the GPS had pointed out to be Shigeru's location… or his cellphone's location at least, but Kazuma knew that the other never left without his phone so he completely trusted the findings. Hell, he wasn't that Shigeru's motorcycle leaning just outside? Oh, he was going to give the idiot a piece of his mind…

"Kanmuri-san?" He called out to the alley but stopped short when he saw what was happening. Indeed, he found his tutor, but it was in the most unexpected predicament…

Shigeru was a bloodied heap on the sullied ground… And then there were two unknown men with him, one of which was holding a bloodstained knife ready to strike… Worse, the man with the knife was standing just beside Shigeru… Scratch that, the man _was_ moving to strike Shigeru!

Kazuma never knew what made him move… He never knew how he had managed to move so quickly… It just might be his instinct… or maybe even some kind of adrenaline rush… but the next moment, he found himself kneeling on the ground, arms wrapped around Shigeru's body in a protective manner… He was trembling at the sight of the injuries on his classmate's form, mostly due to the fact that blood that was still flowing from the open wounds. The pink-haired teen's skin felt cold… He was deathly pale… But even before he could continue, a searing pain made itself known to him.

"Aaaaarghhh!!" The tearing of fabric accompanied the pain-filled scream.

The brunet's eyes shut tight in pain as a burning sensation spread from his shoulder to his left arm. The scream left him breathless as he held Shigeru's unconscious body closer, hands holding on tightly with no intention of letting go. His auburn-brown tail curled up beside him in fear.

Greed's eyes went wide, quickly pulling back his hand and his knife… Where did that kid come from?! Shit. He was about to deliver his final blow to the bastard kid but some unknown idiot suddenly comes along and instead of hitting his target, his knife cut into the new guy.

"Shit. What do you think you're doing, jackass?!" The leather-clad assailant spat. He expected the kid to cower in fear and maybe even beg for mercy but the brunet looked up at him determinedly, taking him aback.

"Why are you doing this?" Kazuma asked, ignoring the pain and doing his best to maintain a steady voice.

Greed cast quick glance at his companion in the shadows and saw that Envy had his lips pursed, still indifferent. He turned back to the brunet, "You have no idea what you're dealing with kid, so better stay the heck out of this!" he warned. He never wanted to include innocent idiots in his wrath but the kid was just asking for it.

"I won't let you hurt him!" Kazuma said defiantly, meanwhile his mind was on overdrive… From here, he couldn't find an escape route… if he got out his cellphone there'd be a fat chance that he'd actually get a chance to call someone for help… even so, if he _was_ able to call for someone, it would take too much time… he and Shigeru would most probably be dead by then. If he screamed… he probably won't even get out a single word before the man with the knife got to him and silenced him… His heart was pounding… the man didn't even look like he was negotiable.

"Well if ya wanna be a saint so badly, why should I stop you?" Greed stated, a devilish grin on him… The kid had caught him in the act; it wouldn't do for him to just let the guy go freely… "Hell, I'd even help you get to the afterlife faster… Ain't this just grand, eh?"

The leather-clad man stepped forward, and despite his resolve, Kazuma flinched backwards. He was honestly scared to death… He could feel his heart beating up in his throat… "I'm sorry", he whispered as he bowed his head, holding onto Shigeru's beaten form. The footsteps stopped just in front of him, and Kazuma shut his eyes tight, holding back tears.

"Oi! What's going on there?" A loud commanding voice came through, accompanied by the shining light of a flashlight.

Kazuma's head snapped up along with his cat ears, he couldn't be mistaken; he knew that voice! A spark of hope was ignited within him… He inwardly thanked all gods that was watching over them right now…

Greed turned to face another intruder; he was quickly getting pissed off… He suddenly froze as he recognized the newcomer's clothing… it was a uniform… a police uniform…

"What are you doing there?!" The voice sounded nearer as footsteps echoed in the alleyway.

"Greed! Let's go!" Envy called as he turned away and made a run for it. His companion however, was rooted to the spot.

"Hughes-san!" Kazuma cried out in recognition of the man.

"You're not going anywhere!" the man declared. He was quick to disarm the brazen man and put the man's arm behind him, securing them in place with a pair of shackles. But Greed simply wouldn't allow himself to be taken in so easily. He kicked and moved and basically trashed around. However, Hughes' grip was solid and the leather-clad man was simply unable to escape.

"Azuma, can you take care of yourself and your friend?" Hughes asked.

Kazuma nodded, still stuck in awe.

"Good, I'll just take this to the police station." The taller man stated, forcefully leading Greed away from the two.

"This isn't over yet!" the brazen perpetrator growled, still fighting back but it was to no avail.

Back at the alley, Kazuma allowed himself to let out a sigh… Caramel eyes looked wearily at the unconscious teen in his arms. Tanned hands softly wiped away strands of cherry blossom pink hair that framed the teen's fair face.

"I'm sorry, Kanmuri-san… I didn't know…"

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

His head was throbbing… His body ached… Damn it, what happened?

It was bright… might be just around midmorning…Sitting up, he realized that he was on a bed… the soft covers and pillows only but helped him to figure it out. His vision was bleary… raising his right hand, he attempted to rub his eyes but he froze the moment his hand made contact with his cheek… Something was different… He rubbed his eyes… since when did his hand feel so different… Wait, it wasn't his hands… something was _on_ them… Blinking rapidly, amethyst eyes found bandages wrapped around his pale hands… following the trail, he realized that the bandages continued through his arm… unto his shoulders… his chest and abdomen were no exception… His left cheek also felt… heavier… and touch of his hand confirmed that there was a band-aid set upon it… What was up with all the bandages?! Hell, he was even wearing a different set of clothes… clothes that he wasn't even aware of owning…

As he tried to move, searing pain spread through his body, most of the pain coming from his arms… Dammit, what happened? He couldn't remember… Looking about the room, he was faced with familiarity… but it wasn't his room… It was then that his eyes landed upon a sleeping figure just on the edge of the bed…

A mop of unruly brown hair was set upon crossed tan arms, auburn cat ears laid flat on the teen's head, and it was only the upper body that was on the bed… The body moved in a steady rhythm, making him assume that the person was asleep.

Pulling off the covers, he moved towards the figure… The teen's face reflected serenity, as his soft breathing continued… Something glimmering caught his eyes and he noticed a steel basin of water not far away, a red-stained white cloth hanging on its edges… He stared at the red… it was spread quite abundantly on the white cloth… Red… What on earth could it be…? There was also a white box next to the basin… a white box… with a red cross on it… again, red…

Suddenly there was movement… but he sure as hell was still… His attention turned to the sleeping figure who seemed to be waking up… The brunet sat back and yawned… He looked at his own, bandaged self and then at the teen… The other's eyes fluttered open and his amethyst eyes met with pools of golden honey… There was a moment's silence, and then…

"Kanmuri-san, you're already awake? Are you feeling well?" the tanned teen asked him, his cat ears rising to attention.

Shigeru's eyes widened as he recalled what had happened… Greed… fighting… then there was a knife… blood… and then Azuma… Azuma! He lunged forward and grabbed the brunet by his shoulders…

"What happened?! Where's that bastard Greed?! Tell me where he is!"

"K-Kanmuri-san…" the brunet was quite in shock at his companion's agility, given that he was still badly injured from the night before. Nonetheless, he replied in a weakened voice, wincing a bit as his friend's grip on him was a tad bit too tight… "T-The guy who assaulted you… he was taken to prison by Hughes-san… h-he's the chief of police here at Amestris…" Amethyst eyes bore into Kazuma, making the tanned teen feel quite quaint… "H-He can't hurt you anymore…" the teen added in something just above a whisper… somehow, knowing that fact made him feel albeit lighthearted…

Shigeru stared… Was this guy serious?! It couldn't have been that easy… but at the same time, he felt glad knowing that now that Greed was gone, he didn't have as much to worry about… The fair teen's disbelieving look slowly melted away as he stared into reassuring caramel eyes… A genuine smile was just about to finally break free from him when he suddenly caught something off… Contrasting against Kazuma's tanned skin were white bandages… Strips of white cloth coiled around the brunet's left arm and shoulder… Why were there so many bandages?!

"What happened to you?!" the pink-haired teen burst out, his eyes now glued to the brunet's left shoulder. He didn't remember seeing Kazuma get any previous injuries… What could've happened? Damnit, he hated not knowing anything…

His companion's outbreaks were honestly surprising the brunet more and more… But at this point, Kazuma was suddenly unsure of what he could say… He didn't want to sound as though the wound he had was any of the other's fault… Kazuma looked away, his cat ears flattening on his skull as he did so… How should he put this…?

Growing impatient, Shigeru quickly scanned the brunet's physique looking for any more bandages… And he breathed in relief when he saw that other than the one on the other's shoulder, there was not another wound on the brunet… Turning back to face his classmate, Shigeru couldn't help but get instantaneously pissed off at the brunet's lack of response…

"I said, tell me!" the amethyst-eyed teen ground out, his grip tightening drastically. "Did Greed do this to you? Did he? Answer me, goddammit!"

Kazuma faced the fair teen, startled and apprehensive… He had never seen such ferocity in the other's eyes before… Never had he felt so much hesitation before… What could he say? He was afraid of angering Shigeru even more… His fear was probably written all-over his face, for within the next few seconds the fair teen's expression darkened considerably…

Long pink bangs hid Shigeru's eyes in shadow; his mouth turning into a long thin line as he forcibly let go of the brunet. Seeing the fearful expression on the other… it stirred something in him… though pointing it out would prove to be quite a problem… He didn't really need to hear any answer from Kazuma… He just _knew_ that the injury were caused by none other than Greed…

The caramel-eyed brunet shifted uneasily on the floor, his cat tail coiling in tighter as he worriedly looked up at Shigeru's intensely silent demeanor. "Kanmuri-san…?"

"Greed did this to you, didn't he?" Shigeru asked in a low voice. "The guy with the knife… he's the reason why you have all those bandages around your shoulder…"

The brunet's mouth was slightly agape as he fought to find words to reply… Finally deciding that he might as well go along with the truth, he admitted, "I… yeah… He was sort of about to plunge the knife to hurt you and… I… I saw how badly wounded you already were, Kanmuri-san… I just didn't want you to get hurt anymore…"

Hearing the other's response, the amethyst-eyed teen grit his teeth, fists clutching at the jade-hued blankets tightly…"Idiot," Shigeru spat, his eyes remaining downcast, "You didn't have to fucking do that… Do you wanna end your life so badly?"

"Kanmuri-san, what are you saying?!" Kazuma said, sitting up straighter with his cat ears perked up, placing each hand to Shigeru's wrists.

"Don't you understand?!" Shigeru finally lashed out, looking Kazuma in the eyes, shaking off the brunet's hand on his wrists and holding them with his own instead. "Don't you have any idea of how much more trouble you could be into?! You shouldn't have risked yourself just to save a good-for-nothi-"

"Enough of that, Kanmuri-san!" Eyes of golden-honey glazed with determination bore into amethyst pairs. "I've told you long ago to stop the nonsense of degrading yourself! I got off okay, didn't I? What happened doesn't matter anymore! I-"

"Greed could've finished you off, if that police guy didn't arrive in time!" the paler teen retorted. "Goddammit, you could've died back there, you idiot! H-He could've done so much more things to you…He-"

"But, I'm alright, Kanmuri-san!" Kazuma interjected, shifting to a kneeling position to meet up with the other's height. "It's just a scratch… Right now, I'm just glad that you're alright as well…"

"A-Alright?" Shigeru's face seemed to crack up as his lips formed a wry smile. "Do you think I'd be _alright_ knowing that you just went within an inch of death trying to help me? Shit. I never asked for you to help me!" He ended, pushing the tanned teen away from him, his fingers digging deeply into his palm after he did so.

Kazuma told himself that he'd been placid way too long. "Do you honestly expect me to just watch you die right in front of me?"

"I expect you to just save your ass and run away! You never had any obligation to help me in the first place!"

"I don't just leave my friends behind, you know that!"

"Stop butting into other people's business! You know pretty damn well that you have no right to interfere with what I do!"

"I just don't want to see you get hurt!"

"Well then, let me tell you: you won't _ever_ see me hurt ever again! Damn, you know what? Stop being so fucking selfless; think of yourself once in a goddamn while! Hell, I'm through with this shit! You might as well rejoice, I'm out of your fucking life now! I don't want anything to do with you anymore!"

Gold-hued eyes could only stare as the bed's sole occupant, jumped off and marched right out the bedroom door and only moments later, he heard the front door open and subsequently lock shut.

In the eerie silence that followed Shigeru's departure, Kazuma could feel his whole being tremble and it was only with much effort that he managed to lie down properly in his own bed… His back ached due to his previous sleeping position, the wound on his arm stinging every so often, and now…

'Damn it…'

Kazuma rolled to his side, took hold of the nearest pillow, and buried his face into its soft surface.

_'Do you think I'd be alright knowing that you just went within an inch of death trying to help me? Shit. I never asked for you to help me!'_

"Kanmuri-san…"

_'You never had any obligation to help me in the first place!'_

"I just…"

_'Stop being so fucking selfless; think of yourself once in a goddamn while!'_

"I couldn't…"

_'I don't want anything to o with you anymore!'_

"…I just wanted to be part of your life… Even if it's just the smallest fraction…"

In a sea of deep green laid a lone figure… it was the image of pain and despair… it gave none but the ambiance of melancholy… Softly… as hushed as the sobs that slowly filled the room… clear, warm liquid marked tracks on tanned flesh… And in the soothing sunlight of the November morning sun, Kazuma wept.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

**A/N:** yeah…


End file.
